Eyes Like Mine
by Scotty77
Summary: Left with nothing after the war, Naruto, after many years of traveling, finds himself staring into eyes that reminds him of his own as a child. Complete with a sequel soon to come.
1. Prologue

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

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Disclaimer: I own neither Harry potter nor Naruto. So! i bet none of you do either. damnit.

AN: I hope everyone will enjoy the story, I've only found a few stories where Harry is in the care of Naruto and they were usually pretty good. The reverse, where Harry takes care of Naruto, where amazingly well done, but unfortunately it hasn't been updated in years.

NOTE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

Eyes Like Mine

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(Prologue)

To Naruto, the war had ended somewhat abruptly and had been a bit anticlimactic. However, that didn't mean that it didn't have devastating consequences and lasting affects on the entire mass of land known as the elemental countries. Tobi, being as insane as Naruto had always thought he was, believed he had the power to become a jinchuuriki, and, ignoring the fact that jinchuuriki could only be made with newborns who's chakra coils were still undeveloped unless you were a member of the Uzumaki Clan, he wanted to be the jinchuuriki of the Juubi, a creature with so much power that not even the Rikudou Sennin could hope to hold it forever. The fact that he believed he had more power than the founder of modern ninjutsu itself was laughable to Naruto.

While powerful in his own right, he seriously doubted that Tobi could possibly contain something so powerful in his body. The thing that made Naruto know for certain that he was completely out of his mind, was the fact that he wanted to use the power to project his Mangekyo Sharingan onto the moon, which just happened to contain the original body of the Juubi, to cover the world in an infinite Tsukuyomi to create a world in which he had infinite control and no war or crime ever occurred.

Again, it had to be the most ridiculous thing Naruto had ever heard. The problem was that while completely out of his mind, Tobi was still dangerously powerful, not to mention extremely cunning and manipulative. Not to mention the white army of Zetsu clones and living dead shinobi he had at his disposal thanks to Kabuto, who's modified version of the Edo Tensei was even more difficult to handle than the previous.

Though the Allied Shinobi Forces had started strong, bit by little bit they had been picked apart by the seemingly endless army of Zetsu clones. At the time, Naruto had been trying to master a powerful technique exclusive to only jinchuuriki and the bijuu themselves, but when the war was brought to him, he had no choice but to forget the training and head straight to the front lines, no matter how many people tried to stop him, it was just who he was. He really didn't know what war was, none of his friends did, so when things started going south he had to grow up in a hurry. In reality, Naruto realized very quickly, he didn't have that many techniques.

Aside from the basic henge and kawarimi, all he had were kage bushin, rasengan and it's various forms, summoning, and the bijuu bomb attack, and those cost so much chakra he could only do them a few times before being completely drained of chakra. While he did have senjutsu and the cloak of chakra from the kyuubi, what else did he really have? Looking at the various influences in his life, one would think that he would've known at least a few fuuton style jutsu. With people like Kakashi and the Sandaime, who knew over one thousand jutsu, and others like Jiraiya and the Yondaime who also used the rasengan and summoning jutsu but also had things that made them stand out like the Hiraishin and Fuuinjutsu mastery's, what did Naruto really have?

This was the question he began to ask himself as the war continued to drag on, completely ravaging the country side and tearing families apart. Then Killer Bee was captured, and it completely changed the tide of the war. It had been his fault that it happened. He had, of course, gotten cocky in the middle of battle, a deadly mistake, and had been surprised when Tobi had shown himself in person. Up until that point, they hadn't seen a sign of him, having no idea what he had been doing.

The fact that they had no clue as to what type of power he had besides time space ninjutsu, and with the new eye he seemed to have gained, he completely devastated any type of resistance that they had put up. They had started out against him strongly. When Kakashi and Gai had shown up to help he couldn't help but feel confident. Then, making use of the undead jinchuuriki he brought, not to mention the statue that contained the bijuu, they found themselves hopelessly outclassed. Not even Kurama's powerful chakra and attacks could stop them for long. He was out of chakra and completely exhausted when Tobi himself joined in. The battle was too hazy to remember.

When he found out that the team that had saved him had also been killed with Killer Bee as a captive, he had been devastated. Not only had a friend of his sacrificed themselves for him, he had lost Kakashi, again. It also meant that he was now alone. The last of the jinchuuriki. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, he wasn't the only one to realize that little fact, and before he knew it, he was put into hiding, again.

Although it gave him time to reflect and train as much as possible, it hadn't mattered in the end. Tobi tore through the allies and found him, captured him and proceeded to extract Kurama out of his body. At least, that's what he tried to do. While attempting to extract the Kurama with the help of Kabuto, and the various Zetsu clones, they triggered one last function of the shiki fuujin. When Naruto had locked the Kurama away in his mind scape, earning the chakra cloak, he locked it away from everyone, including those trying to pull it out of the seal by force.

What the seal then proceeded to do was disable the jutsu while echoing the effect of the extraction sending it back to the original point of origin, powered by the death god himself, the statue that contained the spirit and energy of all the tailed beasts, excluding the Kurama. It didn't turn out well.

In a blinding explosion that took out everything for miles, including Madara and his cohorts, the Zetsu clones and the shinobi summoned by the Edo Tensei jutsu. Unfortunately, it also took a a significant portion of the shinobi alliance in the process. It took a while, but while searching through the rubble for anything left over from the explosion, not that there was much there, the remaining shinobi found the battered body of one Uzumaki Naruto, unconscious and in critical condition.

Rushed to the medical bay, Tsunade, Sakura, and Shizune personally oversaw his various operations and recovery themselves.

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It had taken six months for him to wake up, the explosion and unconscious use of the Kurama's chakra that he used to save himself along with the stubborn will to survive that he had inherited from his mother being the only things that had saved him.

He woke up to silence. Utter silence. His muscles, atrophied from disuse keeping him to the bed for an extra two days, before he had enough strength to sit up and walk out of his hospital room. The sight he found caused him to be sick. Bodies everywhere, as if they had just dropped where they stood, all rotting and decaying.

He slowly made his way out into the horror that had awaited him, the door to the hospital he recognized as one of the rebuilt buildings in Konoha. He sped up as much as his body would allow to find that it wasn't just the hospital that had suffered. It seemed to be that every single person had just dropped dead where they stood. Everywhere he turned he saw someone he knew or something that cause his heart to break into little pieces.

He didn't know when he dropped to his knees, he didn't know when he started crying or how long it had been until he stopped, but eventually, he stood and turned to the restructured hokage tower. If it was one thing he need now was information, and the first place to look would be the one place that held even more secrets than anything he could find in the library.

It turned out to be a good idea, the information he was looking for in the one place he hoped to be someday. It also turned out to be one of the hardest things he'd ever done, for there, sitting in the chair he wished to one day be, was the body of Godaime herself, and in front of her, sitting innocently on the table was a note addressed to him.

_Naruto,_

_If I know you, and trust me I do, you'll be waking up soon. Unfortunately none of us will be there to greet you and it's one of my many regrets. I guess I should explain what's happening to the world before I say anything else. No one found out until it was too late to do anything about it but when Tobi tried to extract the Kyuubi from you, causing the explosion, the residue chakra from the Bijuu trapped inside the sealing statute spread across the lands, and as you know, the chakra of the Bijuu is poisonous to humans. _

_It wouldn't have even spread so far so fast if it hadn't been for the explosion. It took everyone by surprise and by the time we could even think to do anything about it, it was too late. People dropped left and right, their bodies decaying at rapid rates thanks to the exposure from the chakra. _

_You, however, being exposed to chakra from the Kyuubi all your life, and the fact that you still have it sealed in you only helped to protect you from the effects that everyone else suffered from. The only thing that's keeping you down is the injuries you suffered from in that last altercation with Tobi and Kabuto. We're not sure what happened to Sauske. I'm sorry you weren't able to save him. I guess he was just too far gone. _

_I only have a few more things to say before I run out of strength. I'm sorry, so sorry that we're leaving you alone. It's the last thing I would wish on someone, least of all you. You were like a son to me, Jiraiya as well, even if we never said it, we loved you. All of your friends loved you, the village loved you in the end. They all believed in you and will continue to believe in you even after they depart from this world. I've set up your hospital room with all the things you'll need if you sleep longer than a few months._

_You'll live, I know for sure because you never give up, no matter what. This isn't the end, because you still live on. You'll inherit everyone's will of fire. You'll survive, I know that. When you wake up, as a last order from your Hokage, don't end your life. Hopefully someone survived this and you won't be alone again. It's my last hope for you. As I sit here, I can only think that I'm glad that I had the chance to know you. You saved me from myself. You did that for a lot of people. Now I'm gonna have one last drink before I close my eyes for a brief nap. Hopefully it'll turn out that it was all just a horrible dream but, if not, then who knows maybe I'll see all my friends and family again. My last words to you Naruto, this isn't the end. I'll see you again one day, it's a promise of a lifetime after all right?_

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It had been 4 years since that day that had changed Naruto's world forever. He had read the note over and over while hoping with all of his being that it wasn't true. The first thing he had done when he gained enough strength was summon as many kage bushin as possible and gave everyone in the village a proper burial. It had taken longer than he would've liked to do it, even with all of the clones helping him. He had to steel himself throughout the whole thing or else he would broken down while collecting all of the bodies. His mind almost shattered at the images that invaded his mind when the clones finished their work and popped out of existence.

All of the bodies of his friends and comrades, every single one, gone. It hadn't really hit him until then that he was alone. It had taken him days to do more than just carry himself to the bathroom or force food down his throat to stave off the hunger. Because he was who he was, it hadn't taken much longer after that until he could focus on something to do beside sit and mope about. It just wasn't who he was and it wasn't who he was going to be.

He thought back on everything that had led up to this, everything from his first days in the academy to the extraction process with Tobi. He realized that above all things, he'd been incredibly lucky not to die on his first mission out of the village or on all of the other missions he'd been on that involved all of the S-rank and other missing nin he seemed to be attracted to. So, even though there may be no one left to fight, that didn't mean he still couldn't learn more techniques and other things that could be useful in the long run.

So he headed to the library. With all of his experiences, he had gained more patience than he'd ever had as a child. He also had the ultimate study technique. With the massive group of clones and everything at his disposal, he raided the library for all it had. There were many things he already knew, as in the location of the major villages and the minor ones surrounding them. The library, being public, hadn't contained many of the higher level ninjutsu, but it contain many useful C to E rank. Being a Wind element user, the first place he headed was the section that contained wind ninjutsu. Unfortunately, being that this was fire country, they didn't have all that many fuuton jutsu so he went to the largest section, which contained katon jutsu, of course.

Some of those he'd seen being performed were categorized in the library, and many he didn't know existed. He decided to try out the fire jutsu while his clones checked out the rest of what was in the library. Finding the closest training field, he decided to try out the first fire jutsu he found. It was a simple fireball, the Endan (Fireball) seemed easy enough but when he tried it out, he burned his throat, his mouth, and choked on the smoke from the failed attempt of a jutsu. Before he could gain his bearings, his clones, in what had to be a completely idiotic move, popped at the same time, causing him to curse his clones for being so stupid before blacking out.

He had learned more about chakra than he ever thought possible in the years he spent training his body and mind than he ever had before. While he knew that it was possible to change chakra into more than one element but he didn't know the mechanics of it or all of the reasoning behind why some were weaker or stronger than others.

While Kakashi had tried to tell him all of this during the training to modify his rasengan, most of it went right over his head, and at the time, he hadn't really cared to know how it was done so long as he could do it. It had taken him a long time to understand that while he was a wind element user, he was in no way a master. He figured he could get the information from Suna as they had many wind user, Temari being a perfect example.

But before he did that, he tried to learn as much as he could about the knowledge he had on hand before heading out of the village. He did the many exercises required to master the element of fire. Even with the kage bushin method, it had taken him a little over a year to become proficient in the art of fire. It wasn't he only thing he practiced.

He also had the clones learn the other jutsu in the library. While he wasn't a master, he had them down to some degree and figured that it was all come with experience as he mastered the other elements. He also had a group of clones doing as much chakra control training as possible. He wanted to get at least the basics of genjutsu down because it had been a major weakness of his. And while he knew he would never be on the level of Tsunade or even Sakura with his crappy control and lack of a teacher, he learned as much about medicine as he could. If something had happened to him, he thought one day, the who would be able to care for him? He had his clones study those books with a passion. He knew that Kurama's chakra would heal him of pretty much any wound, but what would it do to poisons or sicknesses? He didn't know and he didn't want to find out without at least being prepared.

While he turned his attention to the jutsu that were contained in the forbidden scroll. It had just what he was looking for. All the jutsu past the kage bushin were all high chakra level, and were either very destructive or took an incredible amount of skill to use. It only took him a few months to get most of the destructive ones down, excluding the genjutsu and the jutsu that required a bloodline to perform.

To his surprise it contained more than just jutsu, it also contained knowledge on the Bijuu, sealing techniques, and bloodlines. Of course he knew much more about the Bijuu than anyone else had besides the Rikudou Sennin. He knew that he could probably never master all of these things without someone around but he did his best with what he had.

When he learned as much as he could from the hidden leaf, including a rather detailed list of jutsu that Kakashi had copied with his Sharingan over the years, he took his journey to the other hidden villages, learning their secrets and picking them apart bit by bit. It was a bit sad how easy it was to break into each of the villages and learn their secrets but maybe that was due to the fact that they were all dead. A bit morbid, but Naruto had steeled his heart long ago, so it hadn't affected him as much as it should've.

He also took the time to practice his Bijuu mode. It was a lot more difficult than he thought, but in the end, he managed quite nicely.

He also managed to learn more about he elements from each village he visited, each one of course, specializing in their own type of techniques. He learned more than ninja techniques though. Having to take care of himself he learned how to repair and how to cook something besides instant ramen. He learned to play the flute, although it took so long without anyone to teach him, he hadn't bothered to learn anything else.

Besides, he had only learned it to break the silence that constantly surrounded him. If it wasn't for Kurama's growling conversations he probably would've gone insane a long time ago.

He'd thought about summoning the toads, more than once, but the notion was immediately squashed with the thought of what had happened the last time he tried to.

Within the first few days of waking up he tried to summon Gamakichi, only to find that whenever he tried to summon something, the summoning matrix, overloaded with the amount of chakra left over from the bijuu destabilized and turned completely in on itself causing a large explosion.

However, one day, after spending years in solitude he ended up being summoned himself to Mount Myoboku where he was drawn into a group hug that nearly crushed him. He wouldn't have minded if it did. They, apparently, had known that he was still alive, his name having still been on the contract, but hadn't been able to contact him in any way.

He'd broken down when he saw them, realizing that he didn't have to spend anymore time in the solitude. He had been without contact with another life form other than Kurama for years and it took him some time to get used to being around others again. After a few weeks, he spent time learning things about the sage arts he hadn't had a chance to learn before and polishing his rough sealing techniques.

While in sennin mode, he could harness the energy around him using it as an extension of himself like when he was in, what he called, Kyuubi mode. Naruto had known this, and used this information to his advantage in his fight with Pein.

What he didn't know was that once a person masters the sage transformation to perfection, he contained a connection to nature itself, and using that power, he was able to use what could be called a form of telekinesis seeing as how he could move things with his mind now, as long as he had a bit of natural chakra to draw on.

He'd been so excited when he figured out how to do it, when he jumped in the air in celebration of his achievement, he stayed there. It had been pretty funny to Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, who had been with him at the time, when he fell after floating for who knows how long. He was still getting teased for that. He was still trying to get his skill down to where it was second nature to him.

His sealing skills had managed to increase with Fukasaku's knowledge and skill in the art, and after some time was able to call himself a master of the skill after passing Fukasaku's test, albeit, barely. Even after all these years, he still sucked at taking a test, but it was better than failing.

While it was nice to be around others, he couldn't help but wonder how it was that they had escaped the plague that had ravaged the entire country. When he finally asked Fukasaku why, he had been surprised to learn that Mount Myoboku was in another dimension entirely. It was a thought that stuck with him for a while until it was eventually all he could think about.

He asked Shima, Fukasaku, and the Great Toad Sage how it was possible that they could travel between dimensions, he learned that it was the combination of nature chakra and regular chakra, blood, and an extremely complicated set of seals that had been written just after the time of the Rikudou Sennin. Ironically by the Uzumaki clan. They left him with his thoughts while giving him a copy of the seals that had been engraved around the area. He left without seeing the knowing look on the Great Toads face.

Three months after he gained the copy, he managed to find a to alter the effects of the of summoning aspect of the seals. Instead of summoning from just this plane to the elemental countries, he planned to reverse summon himself to another plane altogether.

While he loved the toads, he knew he couldn't live with them forever, and he couldn't go back to the elemental countries either, it was too hard. He still had a hard time trying to come to grips with the reality that all of his friends were gone at times, no matter how much he hardened his heart.

He checked, and checked, and, once he let the other toads know what had taken all his time, had the ones who knew the most about it, the ones being Shima and Fukasaku and the Great Toad Sage, before he decided to test it out.

He didn't know anything about where he was going to be, if he even wanted to stay where he would end up, but he had a feeling that it'd be alright, if that smile from the Sage wasn't of a confirmation he didn't know what was. They had made back up plans to summon him right back to the mountain if he found himself in over his head. At least he would be able to summon the toads where he was going with this.

After he had set the seal array, making sure he had all he needed and being fussed over by Shima, he applied the blood and a small amount of chakra and nature chakra to activate the seals, hoping it would send him someplace where he could make a difference, in a poof of smoke he disappeared from the Mountain.

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AN: Hope you enjoyed the prologue. Any questions you'll probably have will be answered later on in the story, including a lot of what Naruto learned over the years.


	2. In Which Naruto Has A Few Problems

**Chapter 2: In Which Naruto Has A Few Problems**

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Disclaimer: I am now the proud owner of nothing. Nothing's wrong with owning nothing. Lots of people own nothing just like me.

AN: Okay, this is a short chapter, more of an interlude really. I just wanted to get Naruto set up in the world before moving the story along. I was surprised at the positive response I got to the prologue of the story. I'm also looking for a beta so if anyone is interested...

One more thing, the year is 1986, and Naruto is about 22. He was 16 when the war started, and it lasted for two years in this story, then the 4 years. Harry is six in this story at the beginning.

NOTE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

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Okay, maybe he really hadn't thought this out very well. The jutsu worked perfectly, and he found himself on the outskirts of what looked to be a city. It was unlike any city he ever saw before though. The tall metallic buildings, the metal boxes that people seemed to be riding around in, the people. So many people. The things they were doing, the technology they seemed to posses, it boggled his mind.

The main problem, as he had a lot of them right now, was that he couldn't understand a word they were saying. Luckily, he had just the jutsu for this. While looking through the different jutsu in the whole of Konoha, he had delved into the mind jutsu of the Yamanaka for a time.

Unfortunately, because they were family jutsu he couldn't use them to their full extent but he made due with what he could use. One of those being a jutsu that let you read a persons mind, learning everyone of their secrets. It had been used in the T & I department but fell out of use because of the side effects that came along with the jutsu.

While the jutsu let him read a persons mind, it also copied everything that the person knew into the persons mind. Used multiple times, people tended to go insane from the influx of information from different lives being forced into the mind.

Luckily for Naruto, years of dealing with his mind scape would allow him to separate the memories, taking what he needed, which was information about the world he was currently on, and dispose of the rest in what he liked to call a brain dump.

It took him some time to find someone who looked like they knew the information he was looking for, what the world was like, what it's general state was, the language, etc...

Unfortunately for Naruto, the only one that fit the bill was a rather smartly dress looking woman. Now, Naruto had no problems with women, and he would've picked a guy if it hadn't been for the fact that the ones he had been observing look completely ridiculous and extremely perverted. Not to mention they were teenagers, which explained his earlier observations. He didn't need that seeing as he had already gone through puberty once, he didn't need the experience again.

But, the fact that made taking memories from a woman was that they had different, eh, life experiences and he could do without that. Still, he took his chances, performing the hand signs while aiming for the back of her head in a fashion that reminded him of a young Ino, and felt the memories bombard his mind.

No matter how much the instructions said it wouldn't be too painful, in all his 22 years it had to be one of the worst head splitting pain he'd ever felt. Luckily,it hadn't lasted long before he was able to gain his bearings and sort through the more, uh, uncomfortable and personal memories, and find out what he needed to live in this world. It turns out, he was going to have a little trouble with this.

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Paperwork, as Naruto was discovering, was now his new mortal enemy he decided. He still wasn't entirely sure how he managed it, but with the use of some persuasive genjutsu, he still wasn't terribly good at them but he could do quite a few, the knowledge that he took from the woman's mind, a lot of time, and a ridiculous amount of luck, he managed to create an identity for himself. It turns out he landed in a place called England, which was just one of the many countries that the world seemed to posses.

The city he had found himself in was a place called London. The woman had, luckily for Naruto, worked for the government and, having left after a stressful day at work, decided to walk home, taking advantage of the good weather. Odd luck on Naruto's part if he did say so himself.

With his paperwork finished, he still had a few problems. One, being money. Oh he had enough money with him, the only problem was that he wasn't sure he could use money from the elemental countries in this world. His second problem was indirectly related to the first. Where was he going to live and how was he going to provide for himself. Not to mention how was he going to feed himself.

Well, he was a ninja, and they did specialize in the theft department. Although, he didn't want to start off in this new world as a thief, even though it was his profession in his old world. He decided to check it out before he did anything drastic, and to his great surprise, he discovered that he could exchange his money for the currency they used here. By another odd stroke of luck, the elemental countries used the same currency as another country here called Japan. Weird, but he wasn't complaining. He did always have good luck in the money department.

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With that problem solved, he took time out to get something to eat, seeing as he hadn't had a chance too in days, the paperwork taking a while to process. As he sat down to eat what he gleamed from the woman's mind as a burger, he contemplated his living status.

A lot of the paperwork had that particular bit of information needed and that's where the genjutsu came in. He wouldn't have been able to finish it without covering it up somehow, but he would have to change it when he did get a home, which would hopefully be sometime this week, he was tired of sleeping in trees.

He thought about the type of home he would want, something busy like Konoha had been, something simple where he could have peace and quiet? He really didn't know. Just thinking of Konoha left a bad taste in his mouth. He knew he still had problems with what had happened, he was just better off than he had been in the beginning.

Those first few weeks had to have been to darkest days of his life. Oh, he wanted to ignore Tsunade's last orders, he did in fact try to kill himself after only a few short hours after waking. Only once though, and it hadn't worked out thanks to Kurama. Even locked away as deep as he was, it still refused to die and with that refusal, refused to let Naruto die. The following lecture from him only helped to bring home the fact that he wasn't as alone as he thought. It had been a halfhearted attempt anyway.

It hadn't been his proudest moment, and when the toads found out he had tried, without even talking to them first they had flipped out. Something he didn't want to experience again. It also brought up another conversation with the toads to the fore front of his mind. The reason they hadn't contacted him in so long. It had truly puzzled him for a while before just settling on the fact that they had died too, not knowing that it was a different dimension they lived in at the time.

They had explained that they had known something was wrong, but hadn't known what because for a time, they had been completely blocked from access to his world. No information could be obtained because of the thick cloud of chakra that covered his world. In fact, none of the other summons could get to his world, and when they finally did, Naruto had pushed them to the back of his mind, where he put all his negative thoughts away until he could deal with them.

No, he decided. He didn't want to live in a place that would remind him of his old home, even a bit. What he wanted now was something that was what he had become used to. Living alone in almost total silence had changed him in many ways. The more docile the better.

His only other problem being that he would also need a place to train would have to be solved later. He also need a mode of transportation, one of those cars, because he doubted that he could just jump on the roofs of the buildings here without causing suspicion. He wanted to blend in as much as possible and money wasn't a problem. Apparently, just like in his world, money ran this place.

It took longer than he would have liked to scout out houses, the man he contacted hadn't been the most helpful. He had gone through three people before he found someone to help him find what he was looking for. He had narrowed it down to three places that they had visited out of the ten. After looking at the information that he had been provided on each place a few times, he settled on the second choice, one # 5 Privet Drive. The second he chose it, he felt a chill creep up his spine.

As he walked out of the office building, he couldn't help but think that someone had just walked on his grave. He needed to talk to Fukasaku anyway and let him know everything was going smoothly. Maybe he could give him some more insight on what he should do in this world. There was no way he was just going to sit on his ass all day.

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AN: Next chapter will be longer, hoped you enjoyed this chapter, although, I'm sure there were some mistakes or errors in the processing system seeing as I know little about it, only that it takes forever and there's a lot of paperwork involved. I hate paperwork with a passion. Hope everyone enjoyed it, and I'll get the next chapter out soon.

R&R


	3. In Which Naruto Looks For Common Sense

**Chapter 3: In Which Naruto Looks For Common Sense**

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Disclaimer: I own nothing. I don't want to own nothing, it doesn't do anything for me.

AN: Must give a big thanks to my new beta Barrel of Monkeys. Make sure you check out the stuff that they've written.

NOTE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

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o.O.o.O.o

_'This isn't too bad,' _Naruto thought as he took in his new surroundings. It was a normal street, with normal people, who did normal things, and had normal lives. Completely normal. Yeah, Naruto didn't do normal very well.

_'Well this just isn't going to work now is it?'_

He really did want some place peaceful but this was just ridiculous. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Nothing here was exciting. Nothing gave off that spark of mystery. Well, unless you count the strange energy that seemed to cover the entire block, then you get something worth looking into.

From the second he entered the surrounding area, he could feel something that seemed to live in the very air, covering each house on the block. That was what Naruto had learned just from walking down the street.

The thing that really baffled him was that this energy was similar to the nature chakra he used- extremely similar in that it drew power from the planet itself. However, it was different in the sense that it also seemed to be coming from another source of energy that seemed to be like the spiritual energy that made up chakra. He didn't know what this was, but what he did know was that whatever the energy was supposed to do, it was horribly weak and barely doing the job. This would need looking into.

It wasn't the only thing that was odd in this seemingly normal street. It took him a while to get settled in, what with buying furniture, food, clothes, and a car (he got a license that same day), he was too exhausted to really do anything more than get a feel of the energy around his new home.

After resting for a while, the next day he was visited by some of his new neighbors. He was friendly and invited them in while they spoke of the goings on of their little community. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary until they came to the topic of the family known as the Dursley's. They were a fine family, he was told, and apparently, out of the goodness of their hearts, they had taken in their orphaned nephew.

A fine family indeed, except for the nephew. Apparently, the nephew was some kind of deranged lunatic that had committed many crimes, and had been a burden to the Dursley family since he came to be in their home. When he asked how old the kid was, he nearly slapped them from the stupidity of the answer.

He was six.

They told him he had committed many crimes and did horrible things to people.

He was six.

He listened to them list various crimes that the boy had done.

He threw them out.

People here, he decided, were stupid.

The next day, he went out, looking for a place to train. He didn't find any place in which he could cut loose. This world was too crowded. He decided, instead, to summon Fukasaku and Shima and let them know things had gone off without a hitch.

His plans were, however, came to a screeching halt when he managed to catch a glimpse of the boy that everyone said was a criminal mastermind.

He was small, smaller than a boy of six should be- but that could just be genes. He had black hair almost as messy and uncontrollable as his, just not as long. Wearing some baggy clothes that looked at least five sizes too big, he worked in the garden, pulling weeds and attending to the flowers. He really didn't realize how long he had been staring there until the boy noticed his presence.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting but jaded eyes, that told more than words could, met his own and he was almost instantly reminded of the eyes he saw in the mirror everyday as a child.

xXx

They had gotten a new neighbor. According to the Polkiss', he was just some young upstart, who, according to them, was rude and had a massive temper after he had thrown them out of his house. Harry couldn't help but find the whole thing funny.

The Polkiss', like their son, could use a lesson in manners; at least that's what he thought. He was lucky that the Dursley's hadn't heard him when he was snickering over the thought of them literally flying out of the house door.

Harry hadn't had a chance to see the new neighbor, but anyone that could handle the Polkiss family like that couldn't be all bad could they?

It hadn't been a very good week for him- worse than usual because hardly anything in his life was good. Dudley had been merciless this week, Vernon being too lazy to actually touch him, and Aunt Petunia not wanting to put up with him, they set their rabid son on him.

The Harry hunts now consisted of his friends sneaking up on him and holding him down while the rest beat on him relentlessly, instead of just chasing him around until they either caught him, or lost sight of him. They seemed to be gaining some form of intelligence if they were thinking up new ways to catch him.

Vernon was so proud.

With his sore chest, where they mainly concentrated on hitting, he had a hard time with his numerous chores, the two he actually liked being cooking and gardening were especially hard on him.

He had been working in the hot sun for the better part of the morning when he felt eyes on him. He didn't immediately turn to face the person, seeing as if he did and it turned out to be Dudley, he would need to run if they met eyes. However, with seconds ticking by and nothing hitting him and no noise, he couldn't help but face the person starring at him.

He had never seen the person before so he could only assume that it was his new neighbor. The man had shockingly blonde hair, even more spiky and messy than his own. His eyes a deep cerulean blue, with tan skin and whisker marks?

He was wearing simple jeans and a long sleeved white button up collar shirt and sneakers. The Polkiss' were right; he did only look to be about twenty years old, to Harry that was still old, since he was still only six.

He shifted around, holding his sore chest, to get a better look at him while still working on the yard, if Aunt Petunia had seen that he wasn't working on the yard... He really didn't want to think about that. The man seemed to come out of the stupor he was in and was making his way forward all the while keeping his eyes on Harry.

Before he managed to pass him, he heard his Aunt's shrill voice in the air calling him. He slowly made his way into the house taking one last look at the odd man that had moved in next to them, receiving a small smile before he was pulled into the house completely.

xXx

"Something should be done about this Naruto-chan, and I know that..."

After leaving the front yard of number four, Naruto had immediately rushed into his house and summoned the two elder toads, something he hadn't been able to do for a while. After calming them down, he explained what he had found out about the world so far and also about his new home. When he got to describing the kid he just saw, he did nothing but listen as Shima started ranting about how he should do something to fix the situation.

He really shouldn't have been surprised. Shima was quite the mother hen he had discovered, and the thought of any child suffering needlessly would be more than enough to set her off. So far, she hadn't stopped talking for the past fifteen minutes, both Naruto and Fukasaku taking it all in stride.

He sighed, "I know something should be done about it," he started slowly. "The problem is that while I can easily tell that he's not being treated right in that house, I don't have any proof. Until then, I can't really do much about it."

She opened her mouth to say something before sighing and looking at him with sad eyes.

"When you do catch them at something, make sure that child is put into good hands. You know I don't like it when I see something like this and can't do anything about it."

They hadn't stayed much longer after that. Before they left, they made sure to let Naruto know to summon them on a more regular basis. They really didn't have much to say about the energy that seemed to be around the area except to be careful.

It hadn't even been a day later when he saw the kid being chased around by a group of kids, the ringleader looking like a beached whale. He could see that the kid was a fast runner, but he seemed to be in pain, holding his chest as he had in the garden before.

The other kids had finally caught up with him, two of the skinnier ones holding the boy down while the others started beating on him. All of this taking place in his back yard. Oh, Naruto was going to have fun with this.

He quietly made his way out the door and walked behind them, and being so caught up with what they were doing, they hadn't noticed him. That was, until he cleared his throat.

They all froze, turning to look at him, before attempting to run- 'attempt' being the operative word here. Naruto had them all in a vice grip before they could even manage to make it two steps.

"Well, well," he said in a low voice. "What do we have here?"

xXx

He had gotten all of them and it had been so satisfying. He got their names, called their parents, and left them to their punishments. All except for Dudley who wouldn't be getting a punishment from his parents. However, he did, manage to get a little warning in, before he dropped them off with their families. And by warning, that meant a genjutsu reality where they were the victims of what had happened to Harry today. A little extreme, but something he felt they needed. Of course, they hadn't known he did anything, it was too quick for that, but he did know it worked if the fear in their eyes was enough.

He had Harry stay in his house while he took care of the others, before coming back to treat the bruises that he had gotten from the kids.

The boy was unusually silent while he put a small amount salve on the worst areas. He looked the kid over while treating him and couldn't help but notice that he was worse off than what he had seen that first time he saw him.

He was unnaturally skinny, with more bruising than any child should have, and unusually short for his age. He also looked like he hadn't been bathed in a while, but that could just be from today. It was enough evidence for him to do something about it, and Naruto wasn't one for just sitting down and doing nothing. Something would be done today.

_'This is new' _Harry thought to himself. Usually people didn't do anything to help him out when they saw something happen to him they usually turned a blind eye to his plight. The new neighbor had done more for him in just a few minutes, than the others in the neighborhood, except that nice Mrs. Figg lady, had done for him his whole time here.

He hadn't said that he was some type of criminal, or how he was such a bad person, or how he was a freak. All he had done was stop Dudley and his gang from beating him up even more, and patching him up. He had asked him his name and he had barely managed to squeak out a small answer, still being in a bit of shock at what was happening.

"So Harry," the man said softly, "Does this happen often or is this something of a rare occurrence?"

"Um..." he hadn't really understood the last word, but understood what he was asking. The problem was that the Dursley's had told him time and time again not to tell. They told him what they would do to him if he ever said anything. It wouldn't be pretty.

Naruto had quickly picked up on his unease and quickly tried to calm the kid down while still getting the answers he needed.

"It's okay Harry, if you can't tell me. How about, I just ask some questions and you nod yes or no. That way, you won't really be telling me anything alright?"

"Uh, okay mister..."

"Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly. He'd forgotten to tell the kid his name. "Call me Naruto."

_'Naruto, that's a funny name' _Harry thought before he began to listen to the questions.

Has this been going on long? Yes. Do you always work in the garden on hot days? Yes. And so on until, Harry began to feel tired. It had been a long day. He really didn't hear what Naruto had said, while his eyes slowly closed. He didn't realize that Naruto had picked him up and carried him to the couch and laid a thick blanket on him while he slept. All he knew was that he was feeling better than he had in a long time.

xXx

Naruto watched with satisfaction, as the Dursley's were carted way in a police car, the son being taken into child custody. After he had put Harry to sleep on the couch with a small jutsu, he quickly called the cops, stating that he had evidence of a child living in an abusive home.

It hadn't taken long for the authorities to get there, showing up at his house first and looking over the child, before heading to the Dursley's for questioning.

The Dursley's, being who they were, hadn't really helped calm the police and instead, put them on guard as they forced their way into the house with search warrant looking at the place from top to bottom. They found plenty of evidence to put them away while they looked into the situation.

As they sped off in the back of the police car Naruto, spoke with the remaining police about what would happen with Harry while they tried to resolve the situation. He was told that while he could keep the child with him for the time being, there would be regular check up while they set up a trial, and he would have to get the child checked out at a hospital for physical evidence of abuse and for treatment for any lingering aliments or other problems.

Naruto thanked him before watching him speed off, all of the nosy neighbors quickly making their way back inside their homes. Naruto turned around to do the same, but that was when he heard a loud crack behind him. He turned back around to see a rather strange looking man, with a long white beard and long white hair, wearing a robe with moons and stars on them, with half moon shaped glasses and a slightly crooked nose looking right at him.

_'What the hell?'_

The man quickly made his way toward him, stopping just a few feet away from his front door, where he happened to be standing, before speaking.

"Excuse me; I think I need to have a word with you."

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AN: Hope you enjoyed. Next chapter will be up soon.

R&R


	4. In Which Naruto Learns The Truth

**Chapter 4: In Which Naruto Learns The Truth**

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Disclaimer: If i owned anything, what would i be doing writing this?

AN: Once again, must thank my awesome beta for their work on my story. Okay so, i had a hard time deciding a few things, like, the horcruxes and whether or not i was going to do a good or bad dumbledore. For the horcruxes, I just decided to have them exist.

NOTE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

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xXx

Harry couldn't remember the last time he had slept so well. He had the most wonderful dream to, about how his new neighbor had stopped Dudley and his gang during one of the famous Harry hunts. As he slowly woke, he was assaulted by the wonderful aroma of a well-made breakfast, which was odd because usually he was the one that was supposed to cook the food. Wait...

He quickly sat up, ready to run into the kitchen to apologize on bended knee, if it kept him out of trouble with the Dursleys, when he took in his surroundings. It didn't take long to realize this wasn't the cupboard under the stairs, let alone Number 4 Privet Drive.

While it did have the same basic design as all the surrounding houses more than likely did, there were boxes everywhere, as if someone hadn't gotten finished unpacking them, the furniture was in odd places, and there were odd symbols decorating the ceiling. This definitely wasn't Number 4.

As he was taking in his surroundings, he became aware that he was being watched. He turned to the entrance to the living room and saw his new neighbor from the day before. It was then, he realized that the dream he had been having, wasn't a dream at all. For the first time, someone had actually helped him.

The man, Naruto he remembered, had helped him out after that little incident with Dudley and asked him all those questions about Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Harry was still looking at him as he made his way over to his side on the couch, a thousand questions floating along in his mind. It must have been obvious with the way the man was smirking before he spoke.

"I know you probably have lots of questions. But, I think it'll be best if we eat first, agreed?"

Harry had to admit that he was hungry, but what else was new. He was led into the kitchen where the food was laid out, similar to a feast, with two empty plates next to the empty chairs. There was no way he could possibly eat all of this. He sent a nervous glance at Naruto, who just smiled and nodded towards the table. Well, he was going to get a good meal today, even if he couldn't eat anywhere near all of it.

It had to have been the best meal he'd ever had. He had eaten more than he thought he could, but in the end, Naruto who had finished off the rest. After they had retired to the living room, with Naruto taking a rather comfortable looking chair and Harry taking his place back on the couch, Harry looked expectantly at Naruto, a million questions burning in his eyes.

"Okay, first things first- The Dursleys won't ever be a problem for you again. I took care of them last night."

That hadn't been what he was expecting. The very thought that he wouldn't have to return to that dreadful place was something he had hoped for, for years. He had often dreamed about someone coming and saving him from the cupboard under the stairs, but he had started giving up hope. But here, this man, with bright hair, messier than his own, was saying that he had taken care of the Dursleys.

"Wait," he said suddenly, "What do you mean by you 'took care of them'?"

Young though he may be, naive about the world he wasn't. He had heard enough threats in his life to catch on to the real meaning behind them.

He snickered while saying, "I called the police and they handled it, kid. They said that you could stay with me while they get things sorted out. Of course, there will be someone checking in on you once a week; after all, I am almost a complete stranger. They told me I'll also have to take you to a hospital."

Harry had an odd look on his face. He hadn't ever really been to the hospital before, unless you count the nurses office. But, he had only hidden there from Dudley once, and he was caught by the nurse who proceeded to throw him out. His train of thought was cut off as Naruto continued.

"The police want to have physical evidence of the abuse you went through in that place, along with getting you a full physical. What you went through really did a number on your body. They'll give you things for that and it'll help with your growth as you get older."

Telling a kid about how messed up he is was bit harder than Naruto thought, but, then again, he seemed to be taking it well. Or, as well as someone in his situation could be taking something as heavy as this. But, he wasn't ready for everything he had to know yet. Not by a long shot. The things that he had found out from that man, Albus, were so disturbing he needed some time to really work out how he was going to handle it all.

Flashback~

"_Excuse me; I think I need to have a word with you."_

_'Okay, this is weird, even for me' Naruto thought as he stared at the odd looking man. What could he possibly want with me?' Did he somehow know that he came from another world? Or was it something else? 'The only other thing that could've possibly drawn attention to me-' it hit him like a ton of bricks. This guy wants the kid, or at least something to do with the kid. All of this ran through Naruto's head in less than a second. 'I'll play this off until he gets to the point, just to see what this guy wants. I'll force it out of him if I don't get an answer'_

"_Is there something I can help you with Mr..."_

"_Albus Dumbledore and yes there is something you can help me with. May I come in?"_

_Yes, invite a random old man that just popped out of nowhere wearing strange clothes into your house- very smart idea for any normal person. Luckily, Naruto was not a normal person and he felt confident that he could handle any situation that might come up. Besides, he was curious about what the man really wanted, and after all, information was priceless._

"_I guess so, but, seeing as I just moved here, you'll have to excuse the unorganized mess that is my home."_

_Both he and the man, Albus, made their way into the house where Naruto led them to the kitchen._

_Albus sat down in the offered chair before looking at him with a serious expression on his face._

"_I would like to know what you've done with Harry Potter."_

_Straight to the point eh, that was what he was hoping for._

"_Do you mean the boy that lives with the Dursley family? I've done absolutely nothing to the boy and I don't know why you would need to know in any case if I had done something with him. What I want to know is why are you here questioning me, instead of his family and I'd like to know why."_

_Quick to answer, he seemed to put a bit more force in his voice this time, "I don't really see why you need to know. I do however, know that the boy is here in this house and his family is no longer at their home. I don't want to, but I will use force to get the boy back if I have to. Trust me, I didn't even need to do this. I could've easily taken the boy and had him back with his family and you would be none the wiser, however, I was in a particularly good mood today. So just had the boy over to me and I'll be on my way."_

_Okay, he was pissed off now, even if he didn't show it. This man thinks he can just come up to him and order him around in his own house, never mind what he could want with the child that was in the other room._

"_You sir," he began as he released a bit of his killer intent, "Just made a big mistake. You can leave now. I believe you know the way out."_

_He turned his back to the man, not usually a good idea, only to dodge an odd colored light that had been headed his way. He turned back to face the man, who was pointing a piece of wood at where he had been. 'Obviously,' Naruto thought, 'this is how this world fights which is odd because nothing in that woman's memories mentioned anything like that. This will be almost too easy.'_

"_You wanna go old man?" he said while lacing a bit more of killer intent in his words, "Let's go."_

_He obviously wasn't expecting Naruto to have dodged the first attack, if the look on his face was enough of a hint. It left Naruto with enough time to quickly phase behind the man and knocked him out._

"_That was just pathetic," he said as he lowered the old man onto a nearby chair. He propped him up before tying him down and stripping him of all the items on his person, which consisted of the odd stick, a bag of candy, and an assortment of other things that Naruto couldn't describe._

"_Alright old man," he said while placing his hands on either side of the man's head, "Let's see why you want the kid so badly."_

Flashback end~

It hadn't been all that easy slipping into the old man's mind, his mind having very extensive and strong barriers, so Naruto used all the subtlety and cunning he had at his disposal. Or he would have if he thought he had the time. So instead, he just blasted his way through the barriers and ripped his way through the memories that the old man had.

There was a possible chance for brain damage, but after what he had found, that would've been too good for the old man. The first thing he thought was how amazing it was that there was a population of people hiding in plain sight with the power to bend reality to their whim. The second thing he thought as he examined the man's memories was that he was worse than Danzo ever was.

It was hell trying to sort through the man's mind, everything was in such a disaray that it was a miricle that he could even form sentences. From what he could make out though, the man had his hand in everything. The wizarding government, the education system, the bank, the agriculture, hell, he even had a hand in the broom making industry. He saw the things that had been done, all in the name of the greater good, and it made the things the leaf had done look like nothing next to his deeds alone.

He had ruined families while gaining their trust, set laws that alone had almost absolutely nothing to do with the law, but when put together in an elaborate system that he had created, he could do almost anything he wanted and get away with it. He had stolen money, killed off families that he had no use for or would be in his way and somehow managed to do it all the while setting in an image of himself as a great figure of light. He even managed to forcibly bond a creature of fire and light to himself for life. He had even manipulated the last of the two great dark lords of the time.

Grindelwald really had wanted to bring about a new era to the magical world but with skill that seemed almost unnatural, Dumbledore somehow managed to change the direction of what the man really wanted. It turned him into something that he really hadn't been, a murdering psychopath who wanted nothing but power and control of the magical world.

He then proceeded to set up the historical battle between the two of them, controlling every single aspect of the fight, and became a person of great authority and status in the world. As the years passed, he continued to worm his way into the many aspects of the magical world while putting off the air of being a perfect grandfather figure to the world.

There was no words to really describe how frightening this man really was. He had power in every sense of the word. As the years passed, he knew that he'd need to re-establish his status as the most powerful wizard of the age. So, when a young man by the name of Tom Riddle was brought to Hogwarts, he saw an opportunity.

The child had been steeped in hatred at a young age, partially from the abuse he suffered at a young age at an orphanage, and the corrupted bloodline he was descended from. That wasn't to say that the boy was evil, however, he did have power and darkness, and that was what Dumbledore capitalized on. He skilfully led the boy around the nose for years without the boy even knowing it, slowly corrupting him until he no longer was just a young angry boy.

He had waited patiently while a young Tom Riddle changed into what was now the monster known as Voldemort. Battle after battle, death upon death, and Dumbledore realized that he had made a mistake. While everything had gone off without a hitch in his plans, he hadn't taken into account the fact that his age would slow him down as much as it did.

Oh that didn't mean that his magic was any less powerful, but his body had begun to tire more, meaning that he could only bring Voldemort to a standstill in battle. It was a few years before he was presented with another opportunity. Another young boy by the name of Severus Snape, had been just as Voldemort had. Young and angry with a horrible home life. The only difference was that the boy actually had a friend in the form of a young girl by the name of Lily Evans.

The pair had started off as the best of friends, but thanks to the efforts of James Potter and Sirius Black, arrogant pure blood boys who had a love of breaking the rules tore them apart. They tormented Severus, which made his hatred and attraction to the dark arts grow, and perusing Lily in a romantic fashion until they had been forced apart. Of course, Dumbledore also had his hand in this, doing nothing to stop the boy's horrible treatment of the other boy.

This is about the time that the Gryffindor Slytherin stereotype really set in. It hadn't really been such a big factor before, but with the war going on, and everything that had been happening in the school, there really was no hope for it.

After the split of the two friends, Lily, who hadn't really given much thought to James Potter in the past, other than the fact that he was a prick, began to look at him in a romantic sense. This was, again, of course also a bit of Dumbledore manipulating them, and a combination of James growing up. By the time they had gotten together, he had become a decent person, but still had an irrational hatred of all things Slytherin and things named Severus Snape. That last one was because of a combination of the fact that he had always been jealous of how he and Lily had always been close and that he hated losing.

In the end, it led to Lily and James joining Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix shortly after school, their marriage, and Snape joining with the Dark Lord. This all had been part of Dumbledore's plan, get someone who he knew he could most easily use to get close to the dark lord, and gain control of the Potter family, who had a firm foothold in society.

The thing he hadn't been expecting was the prophecy that had randomly come out of the mouth of the applicant for the divination position at the school. The prophecy told of a person who could bring about the end of the Dark Lord with some unknown power. While unexpected, he used it to his advantage. He knew of the person listening outside the door thanks to his brother Aberforth giving him the details. He knew of only two families that could possibly fit that prophecy, and that was because they were both in his order.

The thing was, he didn't know which family it would be, seeing as they both had boys on the same day, so he set them up. He told them that Voldemort had heard a prophecy about one of their children and would be coming after them, and suggested that they go into hiding using the fidelius charm. Having trusted the man with their lives, they placed their homes under the charm, with Dumbledore as the caster. He suggested that they switch their chosen secret keepers though, as their choices would be obvious.

So with that, the Longbottom's switched from Madam Longbottom, to a patsy that Dumbledore was looking into eliminating, and the Potters switched from Sirius Black, to one Peter Pettigrew. It turned out just how he wanted the one who would be marked with by the dark lord with a mysterious power and the ones who would more than likely keep him from Dumbledore out of the way and the other family out of the way as well.

He really didn't care what happened to the Longbottom boy but he was glad that the family would be out of the way so that he could easily have the Longbottom name under him as well. The only little holes in the plot, were Sirius and Madam Longbottom, who both knew that he had been the one to perform the charm, and the wills. The wills were easily taken care of, the solicitor being under Dumbledore's thumb, and a little memory charm here, a person thrown in prison there, and that problem was taken care of.

The plans he had for little Harry were set into motion with his placement at the Dursleys. The worst part of all of this was the fact that he honestly thought that he was doing the right thing. In his mind, Dumbledore's view of the world was the only right one, and he was the only one who could bring about the greatest era that the magical world had ever seen.

Forget Danzo, this guy had a worse God complex than Nagato. After seeing his memories and all the things he had done, it was all Naruto could do not to vomit- right then and there. The man was obviously insane and unfortunately had the power to do almost anything he wanted.

The thing he hadn't counted on was someone like Naruto popping up out of the blue who had dealt with someone like him before with the power and skill to stop him. That's why he managed to get the drop on the old man last night, and that's why he would be able to get the drop on the old man again and again until this was fixed. It really disturbed him how no one noticed how much influence the man had over them. He knew that he would have to do something to stall the man from coming after him or sending the entire magical world after him.

He didn't need a nation of people who could basically bend reality to their whim chasing after him until he learned more about their powers and where they came from. While still in the man's mind, he put in place various genjutsu and alterations the man's memories, just before he was unexpectedly booted out of the man's mind.

The force of it threw him across the room and he only caught a glimpse of the man, still tied to a chair, before he disappeared with a loud popping sound. Naruto sighed, because at least he wouldn't remember what had happened this night and whenever he would think about checking in on Harry, he would automatically assume that everything was going according to plan, without actually checking on the boy.

With Albus gone, Naruto made his way into his room and passed out on the bed, his last thoughts being that he needed to talk to the toads again.

With all this running through his mind, he knew he needed to keep the boy as safe as possible, while slowly introducing him into the world of magic that he was just discovering the world himself. He looked the boy over, as he answered his questions and concerns and couldn't really help but think of himself before he started liking orange and pranks.

He wanted to make sure this boy didn't have the same childhood he did and he was well on his way to doing that. It had been an hour of questions ranging from what was going to happen to him, to why his hair was so spiky.

He really didn't want to get into anything too serious yet. He was going to wait for the trial of the Dursleys and for Harry to really get used to being around him. He was going to get custody of the boy if it was the last thing he did.

After a while, it seemed that Harry had no more questions, so Naruto, after telling the boy that he could go outside or watch television, got up to go handle a few things that needed his attention. He was almost out of the room before he heard Harry call him. He turned back to see the boy, a small frown that came from the confusion he felt on his face.

"Why are you doing all of this for me?"

It was a simple question, but had many possible and complicated answers, but Naruto chose the simplest answer he had to answer him.

"You remind me of myself when I was a kid. That and I couldn't just stand by while you got thrashed by that whale you're supposed to call a cousin."

He turned back around a walked to the other room, not seeing the small smile on the boys face as he hesitantly turned to the television and did what other kids did on a Saturday morning for a change. He watched cartoons.

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AN: so i decided on an evil dumbledore, and hey why stop there, might as well go all out on the evilness. I wasn't sure at first but with the awesome response, i've decided to make this an epic length fic so everyone has something to look forward to. I know for a fact that a lot of good stories are not being updated and it really is a disappointment that they aren't. Well, what can you do? hope everyone enjoyed the latest chapter, the next one will be up as soon as possible. I end up getting random bouts of inspirations, usually while listening to music, which i do almost 24/7 so...

R&R


	5. In Which Naruto Comes Up With A Plan

Disclaimer: No, no I'm not doing it again. You already know what I don't own.

NOTE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

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XxXx

He was in over his head. Scratch that, the situation was so far over his head the only appropriate way to describe the situation he found himself in was SNAFU. Yeah, that bad.

The second he left little Harry alone with the television, he headed into his room and summoned Fukasaku and Shima and quickly let them know what was going on. They spent a few moments contemplating the new information before speaking.

"Oh dear, what a mess. You did the right thing by not killing that old man. Goodness knows we don't need an entire society with these types of powers out for our heads."

"So what should I do? This isn't something I really know how to handle. I mean with Madara everyone knew he was the bad guy. Even with all his manipulations and secrets that was one thing, we were all clear on. Here, well, this guy makes Madara look like a little kid in comparison. He has an entire civilization full of people with the power to bend reality at his beck and call. I'm not really sure how I should go about this."

He really wasn't suited for this. What Naruto was good at was rushing in, beating up the bad guy, and then saving the day.

Trying to stop a person who basically had an entire world in his hands, with no one the wiser, was an entirely different type of battle, one that Naruto had no experience in dealing with. It was manipulation on its finest level. And it seemed like he wasn't the only one thinking that.

"Well, you don't really have too much experience with this kind of thing, no matter how much you've learned over the years, you hardly have any experience in the subtle art of manipulation, which is what the situation calls for, and it's not something you can learn in just a few weeks either. It takes time that we apparently don't have."

He paused to take a breath.

"The first thing, and I mean the very first thing you need to do, is set up some type of safe place, somewhere you can't be found by this man if he's as dangerous as you say he is. It's a good thing that we have at least a month to prepare before this man gets wind of what we're doing."

A month really was all they had, that's when the trial for the Dursleys was scheduled. The reason it had been pushed back so far was because of the new evidence that incriminated Vernon's sister Marge. It seemed like the whole family was messed up.

This month was a window called opportunity that they needed because when the trial happened, Dumbledore would know something was up and come to investigate. Naruto had really gotten lucky with that attack he landed on the old man.

If he had been expecting that type of speed from him, it could've went in an entirely different direction, no matter how old the man was.

"Honestly, I'm tempted to take the kid and just leave this dimension altogether and hope we land in a better one."

The toads looked at each other nervously and warning bells automatically went off in Naruto's head. The only time someone had that look was when they were keeping something from him.

"Is there a problem?"

Fukasaku cleared his throat before speaking.

"Well, there was something that we neglected to tell you when you used that jutsu to come to this world. There was a reason that it hadn't been used more frequently beside the fact that it was a closely guarded secret."

"And the reason is?"

"That jutsu can only be used once every hundred years."

A pause.

"So you mean to tell me, that I'm stuck in a world basically run by a powerful, insane, megalomaniac and I have no way to leave?"

Another pause.

"Yes, that's basically what we're telling you."

"... Shit."

XxX

"So that's it, we set up some security seals and hope for the best?"

"No, that's not what I said. We're going to set the seals to defend and hide us completely. Not even this old man will be able to find us."

They had come up with a plan to buy for more time, but it wasn't one that Naruto was sure would work. The plan was to find an unused plot of land, hopefully a grassy area that had miles of open area so that they could use for whatever purpose they might need, and cover it in seals to have four main purposes; to defend, to erase, to manipulate, and to transport.

The first reason was obvious, they needed to have a place that could stand up to attacks and alert them if it came under siege.

The second reason, to erase the plot of land, literally, from existence. They needed to be able to hide until the needed time and what better way to hide something than to erase its existence from the very earth itself, hiding it in a dimension of the toads own creation.

They weren't really erasing it from existence, instead they were taking the basic idea from the scroll and the kunai and blowing up in a ridiculous manner. Like sealing a kunai into a scroll using seals, they were instead, going to seal themselves into their own pocket dimension.

This is where the third purpose comes into play. The manipulation of the pocket dimension. They needed to make sure that they had the essentials for living in a dimension of their own creation, air, water, food, and so on.

The seals for the manipulation aspect would allow them to make more of the water and the air until they had enough of to live off of. And this is where the last aspect comes into play. To even get the air and water they first needed it to be there in the first place, to make more of it.

The seals would allow them the ability to transport anything they needed into this little pocket from anywhere in the world, even air and water, or, to transport themselves anywhere they wanted.

Once this was taken care of, they could transport foods from where ever they needed or other items, such as clothes or books or anything of the like. The last two things that the defense and transport aspect provided was the ability to hide anything and the ability to instantly be anywhere you want.

The idea was based off the Hiraishin, in that where ever the kunai were located, that's where you'd end up. The second aspect of the defense was its ability to hide anything, nothing in the protective area could be located, which was what they needed if the information that Naruto had gleaned from the old man's mind was accurate.

Harry had many "spells" that could track his movements almost anywhere in the world and they didn't want to be found. It had amazed Naruto that the toads had come up with this idea within thirty minutes of hearing the situation he had landed himself in.

One of the problems that came up was where they were going to find all the land they needed to make this happen and how no one was going to notice a giant chunk of land just disappearing.

Fukasaku just smiled saying he would take care of it.

The only other problem was that they still needed to tell Harry what was going on, or rather, that he was different.

He didn't want to overwhelm the kid with all of this information, but with the advice of Shima- whose inner mother had resurfaced- he decided that he would tell him about the magic of this world now. Then wait a little while, preferably after the information had sunk in, to tell him about what they were going to be doing after the trial.

"Just one question."

"Yes?"

"This all seems extremely complicated, the seals alone sound like it would take months to set, not to mention how much chakra this is going to take. How are we going to get this all set up in a month?"

Fukasaku just chuckled.

"That's where you come in my boy."

XxXx

To Harry, the past week had been the best he'd ever had in his entire life. No Dursleys, no chores so far, he got to watch cartoons, he could sleep in a real bed, the list went on. Did he mention he got to watch cartoons?

Even though he was forced to do it at the Dursley household, he honestly enjoyed cooking. So one morning when Naruto was getting ready to make breakfast, he quietly asked him if it was okay if he could cook some of the meals. Naruto was a bit skeptical at first, but he agreed as long as he was there to supervise.

Even though he still didn't know Naruto that well, he could tell the man was a good person that obviously cared for him in some way. It was something he could really get used to.

And although he was a child, he could pick up on some things that most kids wouldn't, like the solemn look on Naruto's face whenever he would look at him. It wasn't something that would really be noticeable but Harry had picked up a few skills living with the Dursleys.

He really didn't want to say anything, in case he messed up what little stability in the house they were gaining, but it seemed like it was a conversation destined to happen, so when Naruto came up to him, face set in a grim frown, he knew something was wrong.

"We need to have a talk Harry."

* * *

R&R


	6. In Which Naruto Is Disturbed

Disclaimer: I own nothing... aww

AN: okay, this chapter has the trial of the Dursleys in it and i want to say right now that i don't really have a good concept of every little detail of what goes on in a courtroom so please bear with me on that one. Enjoy!

NOTE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

* * *

XxXx

Harry hadn't taken the news about his family and what he was very well. He spent the next two days hiding in his room, only coming out for meals, or to use the bathroom.

The meals were awkward and tense at best, and Naruto really had no idea what he was supposed to do. He had never really dealt with kids before, at least, not taking care of them like this. Because he didn't have any ideas of what he was supposed to do, he did what he did best.

He charged into the situation with absolutely no plan in hand, just his ridiculous luck and a hard head. He knocked softly on Harry's door asking to come in but didn't get an answer.

He slowly pushed the door open to find Harry lying on his bed face down into his pillow seemingly ignoring Naruto's presence. He sighed before moving to sit on the edge of the bed not speaking, just staring ahead lost in his memories.

It was a while before either of them spoke, and when they both heard someone speaking, Naruto wasn't the slightest bit surprised it was coming from him.

"You know, when I came here, I didn't expect to find anything to really keep me here. I was really just looking for a way to pass the time until my final days. I honestly thought I would've been alone the rest of my life, but then again, if my old friends heard me saying that I'd probably get a fist to the head."

Harry, who hadn't moved once since they had been the same room, turned his head ever so slightly, to listen better or just to get more comfortable. Naruto wasn't sure, but it did give him a bit of an incentive to keep talking.

"When I look at you, your eyes remind me of one of my older friends. She always had a bit of a temper, but she was very kind and always wanted to better herself for her friends. I guess that's why she became a medic, but I could never be sure. Your eyes, while the same color as hers, also remind me of my other friend. He was always alone as a child, never really had anyone, and it was hard for him. When I met him he was in a bad place, but I managed to get him out of his darkness and he became one of my best friends. Do you know why I'm telling you all of this Harry?"

Harry, who at this point had fully turned to face him to listen, shook his head.

"It's because you were in a bad place as well and you remind me of some of my old friends. You also remind me of myself as a child. I was never liked by my hometown, at least not by the majority, but I had people who helped me, and that's what I wanted to give you when I first saw you. What I said the other day about your parents, you didn't let me finish."

Harry started at that. He had run out of the room when he heard that his parents had died because some mad man had been after him. He didn't want to hear anymore about how his parents had died because of him.

"That man was after you and he was set on killing you, but your parents loved you. They loved you enough to die for you when they didn't have to because they wanted you to live. That's why you survived that night. Their magic lingers on you at this very moment, no matter what happens they still do their best to help protect you from harm."

It was true, it had to be true. Those horrible nights after Vernon had been angry or Petunia had been vindictive and he had been hurt because of it, he remembered how he wished the pain would fade how he wished the pain would go away.

He remembered falling asleep to the soothing warmth like a mother's hug and waking up the next day with the worst of the wounds and bruising gone. At the time, he couldn't explain it, but it made sense now, and he couldn't help but feel bad for the way he had been acting the past few days.

He was about to apologize but was stopped by a single finger in the air. Naruto looked at him before chuckling softly.

"It's okay Harry, you don't have to apologize, and I understand how you were feeling." He paused for a moment to observe the young boy before speaking again. "Is there something you want to ask?"

Harry looked down for a moment before looking up with a slight blush staining his face.

"Can you tell me more about my parents or your friends?"

That question brought a smile to Naruto's face that almost lit up the whole room.

"I'd be happy to."

XxXxX

It had been a rather stressful month for Naruto, having to get everything ready in such a short amount of time that he had. Summoning the Kage Bunshin was no problem, he had been doing it for years, and they hadn't had trouble finding a place that was absolutely perfect for what they needed.

The problem was the seals needed to pull this off were an entirely different level that Naruto had never had to deal with. Not even the seals needed for the dimension hopping he had done hadn't required the needed the level of precision and skill that Naruto wasn't sure he actually had. However, in reality he didn't have much of a choice. It was either get it done or deal with an insane megalomaniac before he was anywhere near ready.

So with that mindset, Naruto had done surprisingly well, having Fukasaku there had helped immensely. It had taken three weeks, even with the Kage Bunshin helping out, but they finished with enough time to hire a lawyer for the upcoming trial.

The only other problem with the seals was the chakra drain Naruto had suffered when it had come time to actually power the seals. He and Fukasaku had both underestimated the amount of power needed to activate the seal array and when pouring his chakra into the characters, for the first time in years Naruto experienced an extreme case of chakra depletion.

He had a hell of a time trying to explain to Harry why he was so pale and on the verge of unconsciousness, not to mention why he slept all of the next day and well into the evening.

Speaking of Harry, they had both become rather close in the month that they had together. Every night Naruto would tell him stories about his parents he had gained from the old man's mind, or about his friends and his old home.

Of course, he embellished quite a bit, not quite ready to reveal the secret about him being a ninja and coming from another world, but it seemed that Harry had enjoyed the various stories about his friends. He had of course wanted to know more about his parents before anything, even if Naruto didn't have much to tell.

Nevertheless, it had been enough for the young boy and they had grown closer because of it- although it hadn't all been good for Harry. Turns out the boy had more problems than he had originally thought. He hadn't had any of his shots; his eyesight was terrible due to a combination of his horrible treatment, genetics, and the fact that his glasses were the wrong prescription didn't help.

Harry said that the Dursleys had gotten them at a garage sale. It took quite a bit of Naruto's' self control to not storm break something, but he hadn't wanted to frighten Harry or the doctor that was giving Harry his physical.

It was discovered that he had a concussion a while back but other than that, all that was there now was a bit of bruising and malnutrition that showed in how weak his bones were. He had been set on a very specific diet that, over time, would help him gain strength in his bones and help his height increase to where he would catch up to his age group in a few years.

The police had, as they said, sent someone over once a week to make sure that Harry was doing alright, but to also gain insight on what went on in the Dursley house. It was usually a social worker who came, and they had typically asked what a normal day in the Dursley household was like.

Harry had describe it as best he could, which meant he just said he did all the chores, cooking, cleaning, gardening, and getting punished when he didn't finish on time. He had clammed up when they had asked for more details so they had decided to leave it at that.

After they had left, almost every time, there was a melancholy mood about the house, the talk of the time Harry spent in the house of number four bringing up bad memories for him, but being a small child he bounced back quickly, running about the backyard or playing with some of the toys that Naruto had bought for him.

It didn't hurt that Naruto was also his guardian at the moment. And while he wasn't looking forward to the trial coming at the end of the month, he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. What if they let the Dursleys go and he had to go back to them?

It had been something that had been running through his thoughts a few days before the day of the actual trial, but Naruto banished those thoughts with just a few words.

"If they do, by some miracle, come out of this without any jail time, they'll have to go through me to get you back, and I don't give up on something as important as this, even if it's the last thing I ever do, I'll keep you away from those people. That's a promise."

With the amount of conviction in those words, Harry couldn't help but believe him. Even if things turned out for the worst, he'd remember this month as the best one of his life, and he was alright with that.

XxXx

It was a much bigger crowd than either Naruto or Harry were expecting. It seems that word had spread that the perfect family known as the Dursleys had done many horrendous things to their nephew. But the most surprising thing was that not only was Marge Dursley, Vernon's' sister, was part of an illegal dog breeding and fighting organization, but Vernon had been stealing money from his company for years and no one had caught on to it.

Naruto wasn't really surprised by that one, with the way the man could put down food, it was a wonder how they hadn't all went bankrupt from the food expense alone.

Thankfully Marge's trial had been held earlier that week so Harry hadn't had to deal with that. She had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for that one.

As they made their way into the courtroom, Harry was becoming increasingly nervous, the whole thing being such a different and almost overwhelming experience for him. He drew closer to Naruto for a bit of comfort, or as much as he was going to get in this setting.

A hand rested on top of his head, drawing his attention to Naruto, who was looking at him with concern in his eyes. He took a deep breath and nodded towards the older man, steadying his already frazzled nerves.

They made to take their seats, but out of the corner of his eyes, a small flash caught Naruto's attention. As he turned his head to see what it could be, his heart plummeted at the sight that met him. One Albus Dumbledore stood there at the other end of the room, eyes twinkling madly as they stared straight into his own.

_'Shit'_

XxXx

_'This is not going well'_

It really wasn't. After the judge had made his way into the room and the court proceeded with the opening statements, one Petunia Dursley was called to the stand to give her testimonies on what had happened in the house.

This is where things began to go downhill for Naruto and Harry. When the questioning began, Naruto knew right away that something was wrong.

There was nothing wrong with the questions per say, but the way that Petunia answered them and the glazed look in many of the people's faces told him something was up. Petunia had answered in a rather unconvincing tone that everything was just fine in the Dursley household and that the boys had just been a bit rowdy that day.

The fact that the judge believed that little act, discounting the numerous amount of evidence gathered in the Dursley household and not to mention what was gathered at the hospital, was just another red flag to Naruto.

It didn't help that the old man was just sitting in the back of the room with a rather creepy smile on his face as he gazed maliciously in Naruto's direction. As she was cross-examined, even a blind man would be able to tell that she was lying through her teeth.

She frequently gazed hatefully in their direction while speaking, frightening Harry a bit, but Naruto gave as good as he got. He'd seen worse.

It was when Vernon Dursley came up to the stand that Naruto wanted to forget everything, run up, and strangle the man. It seemed he didn't care anymore, and started spouting off the horrible things he'd done to Harry and surprisingly what he'd done with his company.

Of course, Naruto may have had something to do with that, but who was going to know. Thing was, no one seemed to really care, and as he looked around, even more people seemed to have that odd glazed look in their eyes.

The judge dismissing the testimonies, and the jury not really caring as they gazed off into the distance.

It was very disturbing, and Naruto knew that the old man was doing something to cause this. His presence was just too much of a coincidence and it was seriously getting to Naruto nerves how this man was literally controlling almost everyone in the room.

By some stroke of luck there was a small recess called after Vernon's testimony. Naruto made his way out of the room with Harry, who had gone deathly pale by the end of Vernon's little rant. They hadn't even made it down the hall when Mr. Sparkle himself accosted them.

"Good day to you Mr. Uzumaki, young Harry. I hope that the day has been good to you."

"As well as it could be," Naruto answered stiffly. He knew something was up, but what, he didn't know.

"Good, good, because it'll be the last good day either of you will have for a very long time," he said, his voice getting lower with each word. Naruto's eyes were wide as he listened to the ramblings of the old man.

"You think I don't know my own mind well enough to know that someone has tampered with it. It was a simple matter to reverse whatever it was that you did. I was ready to storm your little home and take Harry back by force, but I was curious. I had never seen such a technique before, so I watched you. You were even more intriguing than I could even imagine.

However, you are nowhere near as powerful as I am. Your little frogs won't be able to stand up to me. I don't know what you were doing with them as you seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth, but you are inconsequential to me. Once this little farce is over, you'll be gone and little Harry will be right back to where he was before you came along. I do hope your day is as good as mine is, because you don't have many left."

And with that little disturbing statement Dumbledore made his way back towards the courtroom a slight bounce in his step. It had to be one of the most stressful things he had ever had to deal with. He needed some help with this one.

A slight tugging at his pant leg called his attention to the small boy at his left. If Harry was pale before, he was white as a ghost now. Wide green eyes looked at him with an unhealthy amount of fear, as he asked the silent question of what was going on. Naruto said nothing as he got down on his knee and drew the small boy into a strong-armed hug as though he could protect him from the evils of the world.

"I made you a promise Harry. You won't be going back to those people. And I always keep my promises."

XxXx

They made their way back into the courtroom; the people still had that odd glazed look in their eyes. While the old man looked on smugly, he didn't realize that Naruto had his own little smirk on his face.

_'Keep smiling old man, it won't last.'_

The court proceedings continued in the same fashion as it had been for the past hour, or it would've if it wasn't for the fact that Naruto had toads running around the floor, releasing people from the influence of the old man.

He wasn't sure it was going to work at first, but it seemed to work just like genjutsu, albeit a rather strong genjutsu, but an illusion all the same. As more and more people became aware of themselves, including the judge, things took a turn for the worst.

For the Dursleys that is.

After hearing from each one, even though Dudley was a child he gave more information than any of the others had, it had been concluded that they were guilty.

The adults would be sentenced to life in prison for abuse, neglect, and harassment of a child, and embezzlement. The youngest Dursley would be put into an orphanage until he was of age seeing as his aunt was already in jail.

Harry, who had only had to answer a few questions, mostly about how he was treated in Naruto's care and where he would prefer to go, an orphanage or stay with Naruto, he had immediately made his opinion known about how he felt about staying with Naruto.

And Naruto, who had to answer quite a bit more questions than Harry, had been asked whether or not he wanted to care for Harry.

It was something he had said yes to immediately, and he could hardly hold in a small chuckle when he caught sight of the look on the old man's face. It looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

XxXx

The trial, Naruto thought as they started to make their way out of the courtroom, hadn't been all that bad. It could've been worse but that old man hadn't expected him to be able to counter his controlling technique. Who said toads were useless?

Like before, the old man accosted them outside, but this time he looked apoplectic as he gazed at the pair of them with a fierce look of hatred.

"You think you've won? You haven't won a thing. I'll have the boy back if it's the last thing I do."

With that last little statement, he launched a rapid succession of spells at the two of them. Naruto, having been trained to dodge since a young age, had no problem getting out of the way, with Harry held in his arms.

He would've fought back, but with the trembling boy in his arms, it was a bit of detriment to that action.

For almost every spell that Naruto dodged, it either hit a bystander or turned something into something else. Naruto had known about his power, but knowing and seeing were two different things.

It honestly shocked him that these people had this kind of power and weren't above using it to get what they wanted.

He tried to keep out of the people who, by now, had begun to scramble about in panic, as he dodged the old man. He summoned a few Kage Bunshin to drag people out of the way, as he quickly made his way out of the old man's line of sight once again.

It had surprised him that he could keep up with him, but that popping technique he was using seemed responsible for the man's speed.

One of his clones had just popped, sending him an image of it telling a toad to have Fukasaku to help them. Naruto could take the old man, but he didn't want Harry to end up like the other people in the surrounding area. It was disturbing what had happened to them.

They were forced down the hall and towards the entrance of the building, the old man causing mayhem everywhere he went, leaving many people injured in his wake, while he summoned flames of intense heat to chase them down.

They burst through the doors as Naruto felt the familiar tugging of his chakra that signaled a reverse summon, as he and Harry were pulled halfway across the world, leaving the enraged old man behind them.

As Dumbledore saw the pair he was chasing disappear, he failed to notice- as he disapparated back to Hogwarts- the mass amounts of reporters and cameras that had captured the entire scene, since the trial caught the ears of the news reporters.

In his haste, he failed to realize that he had just exposed the secret of magic to the entire world, leaving them in a frenzy as they sought to take control of the situation that he had caused.

XxXx

In another, more peaceful part of the world a rather odd looking person who had just moments ago been laying in a rather large grassy plain, quickly shot up, eyes wide as they looked off into the distance, seeing something not really there.

"Oh dear, the nargles won't be happy about this."

* * *

AN: Oh dear, it seems that Dumbledore has gone off the deep end. Hope you enjoyed it and i look forward to seeing your reviews.

R&R


	7. In Which There Are Many POVs

**Chapter 7: In Which There Are Many POVs**

* * *

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the nargles.

AN: Okay new chapter! finally. Now it may seem that some of the things in the chapter may be irrelevant but everything in this story has a point to it. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy!

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED!

* * *

XxXx

Luna had always been a bit... odd as one would say. She would just say what was the fun in being normal? It was a good question. However, it wasn't the only reason that she was odd.

She could See.

Not necessarily See into the future per say, but rather, what has been, what is, and on the rare occasion, what could be. Nothing was certain with the last one.

She could See all of this without a biased opinion which meant she could see things that people didn't want to see or couldn't see without already being naturally in tune as she was with the earth.

The nargles, for example, were not just something that she had made up on a whim.

They could only be seen and heard if you had a rather open mind and were either intimately in tune with the magic of the world, or were a firm believer in the unbelievable.

Luna just happened to be both.

The nargles weren't sprites as those who believed in them thought. Rather, they were an extension of the earth itself, its power made real by the need to teach and survive because, like many had theorized, the earth was alive and did have a consciousness.

And like all sentient beings, it felt pain, and the misuse of its power was one thing that corrupted it even more than what the muggles had been doing to it. The corruption of its power came from how it was used.

The power was initially meant to create life and help it grow into something that should be cherished and celebrated.

But when used to do the opposite, to kill, to hurt, and to destroy, well it had a negative effect on the planet itself as its power was still tied into the people who used it, the ones called magic users.

They really weren't any different from any of the other people that inhabited the planet, the only difference was that they had the ability to naturally absorb its energy and channel it throughout their bodies without a conscious thought.

Now, it wasn't impossible for others to do the same, but it would be infinitely harder to learn how to do it, not to mention much more dangerous.

It really was the only difference between them and yet, they both did many unsavoury things to the planet that would be almost impossible to repair.

The people without the ability to naturally draw the energy, the muggles, were destroying the body while the magic users, the wizards and witches, were corrupting it's powers bit by little bit.

It was only with the birth of a few special people that kept the influx of positive, clear energy coming with their positive actions with its powers that kept it from collapsing on itself. Harry Potter just so happened to be one of those people.

To be able to survive the killing curse meant that there was more than just love as a shield at work there. The killing curse just so happened to be the one spell that corrupted the earth faster than any other dark spell in existence even if the curse was painless to the body.

It did more than just kill a person; in most cases, it literally sent the soul straight into hell. In the rare case that it didn't, the soul ceased to exists on the spot, after being shredded into pieces, which was why it also did the same to the caster but on a smaller scale. At least that was the idea that magical society accepted.

This meant, that it also had the same effect on the earth as well- that was why people like Albus Dumbledore had such a negative impact on the world.

Not to mention that he was just screwed up in the head.

All of this knowledge, imparted within the nargles, had been passed onto Luna who, although very young, knew that something needed to be done. Just not right now. It wasn't time yet. However, the nargles weren't the only odd creatures out there that were just products of the earth.

Unicorns were a perfect representation of the earth's spirit and energy in what it was before it was corrupted.

Pure and majestic couldn't really describe it. Other creatures such as Thestrals were mutations that had happened over the years due to the corruption that humans had done to the earth. They represented what the earth was now turning into.

However, they were just as gentle as the unicorns, and not really evil at all, if only more dark and more secretive.

As she wandered through the fields around her home, she couldn't help but think that it was time for...

"Luna!"She heard in the distance, "Dinner!"

Her earlier thought disappeared with that statement. Oh, she hoped they were having Nettles for dinner.

Those were her favorites, even if she had never had them before. She was a rather odd girl after all.

XxXx

Dementors also happened to be a mutation brought to life by the corruption of the earth's energy. The complete opposite of the Patronus Charm, a spell based off an actual creature that lived thousands of years ago, they thrived off fear, anger, and despair.

They brought those thoughts and emotions to the surface in humans, but only those with the ability to use natural energy could see them.

They were easily manipulated though, as they only wanted to thrive on those emotions, so they were put up as guards for criminals.

They didn't however, really effect animals that much as one Sirius Black had discovered during his incarceration in Azkaban prison.

It had really been nothing but a stroke of luck that he had discovered this, as it had saved his sanity. As a dog, his mind was brought closer to his baser instincts, so he knew that something was wrong with it whenever he transformed.

It took three years before he could figure it out though, the dementors distracting him whenever he got closer to discovering what had happened to him.

For a time, he had thought that he was going insane, that was until he found traces of magic in the deepest recesses of his mind that he knew didn't belong to him.

It was a difficult process. While trying to get rid of the foreign energy, he recognized early on that it belonged to Dumbledore.

When he finally did get rid of it, his memories from the night that the Fidelius was performed were unlocked and in the first time since he had first been sentenced to live in hell on earth, he screamed, he raged and he hated.

He hated Peter for betraying them, he hated Dumbledore for doing this to him, but most of all he hated himself for not doing the right thing and being there for his godson.

He was never one to really think things through, as in the consequences of his actions, nor was he one to say that he was a humble person, rather an arrogant toe rag if you ask some people.

What he was, on the other hand, was clever and sneaky.

No matter how much he tried to hide it, it manifested itself in one way or another. The sorting hat had initially wanted him placed in Slytherin, no matter how much he pleaded not to go.

Imagine his surprise when the hat, who didn't want to change its decision, called out Gryffindor instead.

He had never really thought about it, too happy to finally be away from his family, but it was rather odd and as he thought about it now, he knew something was up with that one.

His pranking was also a sign at how far he was willing to go to get what it was he wanted, or to humiliate a person. In his school days, he knew that his pranks were rather vicious in nature, and the whole thing with Snape and Remus on the full moon.

Now, he hadn't really wanted Snape out of the way, not necessarily killed but scared out of his damn mind, at the time, no matter what anyone said the other boy was just as bad, if not worse than he had been because he gave as good as he got and he had grown tired of it.

He really just wanted the boy to back off and if showing him a werewolf was going to do it then so be it.

As much as he didn't want to admit it back then he was a Black, just as simple and plain as day. It was in his blood. But he had grown up over the years and learned to control his impulses, however, that didn't mean he was any less ruthless or any less cunning.

The moment he got out of Azkaban, he was going to check up on his godson and then he was gunning for one Albus Dumbledore, and nothing was going to stop him.

He was a Black after all.

As he continued to contemplate more and more gruesome deaths for Dumbledore he never noticed that his mind was slowly becoming more and more unhinged.

XxXx

It was dark, as it had been for years.

It was only in very rare moments when she could see even the tiniest flicker of light. She hated it, the cold feeling that had encompassed her and her husband years ago.

He was much worse off than she was, not that she knew that. There were times when she thought that she wouldn't ever be able to escape the darkness but light in the form of her six year old son always brought her out of the dark, at least a bit.

She could see him, but could tell him how much she loved him, she could only do small things, like touch his head or look at him for long periods of time.

She wanted to tell someone what had really happened to them with all her might, but the most she could do was give small clues to her son in the form of candy wrappers.

When he was gone, as was her light, but she knew he'd be back and when he came back she knew she'd have another chance to break free.

She wasn't going to give up that easily.

If anyone had paid more attention to the candy wrappers given to the young boy, they might have noticed that they once contained small lemon flavored candies.

XxXx

Why?

WHY did he do that?

Normally he would've never done something so rash, so stupid, and downright idiotic.

So why had he done it? This is what he contemplated as he paced around his office in the castle, completely locked in and away from the outside world. To say that he messed up big time would be an understatement.

The Ministry of Magic was in utter chaos trying to cover up the mess he had caused by showing the muggle world that magic did indeed exists.

They weren't doing a good job of it.

Their less than stellar knowledge of the muggle world being their undoing, as they obliviated people, they didn't know enough about technology to figure out that millions of people had seen it on television and it had been recorded on different stations.

They weren't going to get out of this one easily. It was only a matter of time before they were found out and exposed completely.

He had gotten so many howlers and lost his position as Chief Warlock for doing not only that but by also allowing the Boy-Who-Lived to be taken away by a mysterious figure that no one really knew anything about, not even him.

Even if he had spied on him for a month, he hadn't really learned as much as he had bragged. He knew something was wrong with him, he just couldn't figure it out, not that he would figure it out for quite a while.

While Naruto had been in his mind, he had done more than just read his memories and stall for time. He had set a rather complex sealing technique in the man's mind that would affect him whenever he thought about either Naruto or Harry at all.

He couldn't be sure how it would affect the man as the technique varied for different people. It seemed it impaired his judgment and his control over his impulses whenever they were on his mind.

What Naruto didn't know was that, it didn't stop there. It also happened to cause a person to completely lose bits and pieces of their sanity over a long period of time.

So as Dumbledore sat down with his head in his hands, he was unaware that he was ever so slowly losing pieces of himself the more the thought about Naruto and Harry.

XxXx

Naruto watched as Harry played with the toads that he had summoned earlier, the boy had been rather startled when they had landed in a vast grassy field with no sky.

It was a close call but they had managed to make it without any trouble. After they had been reversed summoned, Naruto had taken the time to explain to Harry what the old man they had met was going on about and where they were now.

It only took an hour or two to really describe what it was without going into too much detail and why they were here. He would've told him more at the time, but it had been an exhausting day for the both of them.

So after Naruto had put Harry down for a nap, no matter even if he said he was too big for naps, he went to sleep as well. When he had woken up later on he found Harry playing with the toads that had yet to return to the mountain.

Harry seemed utterly fascinated that the toads could talk and do a multitude of different things, as he had grown up with only the regular toads of the world, and who wouldn't be.

He didn't have the heart to really interrupt him for something as serious as the talk they needed to have about what they were going to do now.

Naruto knew that he would have to start teaching the kid soon, but he'd let him enjoy the freedom for a little while longer before getting down to serious business.

Not to mention that it had been a rather stressful month for him and he needed some down time as well.

As he called Harry over to him, he decided it was time to show the young child the most important creation known to man.

A bowl of hot steaming ramen, Ichiraku recipe style. It had been too long since he'd had some. He'd show him the color of the Gods another day, when he felt the young one could handle it.

For now though, he needed ramen, he wouldn't be him if he didn't have some at least once a week.

He was Naruto after all.

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	8. Interlude

**Chapter 8: Interlude**

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Disclaimer: I own nothing, but I would like to own a muffin button someday! TFS reference.

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED!

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Naruto smiled as he watched the young child go through the forms that he had shown him only a few days before.

It had been a few weeks since they had been in this place, he still didn't know what to call it, and Harry had flourished under his tutelage.

At first he hadn't been sure that he was sensei material, but if he could teach Konohamaru the Rasengan, then he could certainly teach this boy what he needed to know in order to survive.

When they had managed to settle down a bit, Harry had asked him a question that threw him for a bit of a loop. Why hadn't he killed Dumbledore? To Harry it was rather simple. Kill the old man and their problems disappear. To Naruto though, it was a rather complicated question. In the past he had many opportunities to kill his enemies.

He didn't kill Sasuke when he had defected from Konoha, or during their many encounters, he didn't kill Nagato even though he had killed his sensei, destroyed his village, and tried to capture him. Instead, he managed to turn them around and befriend them.

It just wasn't in his nature to kill someone unless he saw absolutely no other way. The fact that killing was in his job description didn't register with him. From what he had managed to glen from the old man's mind, he was no better than Danzo.

However, that didn't mean that he couldn't help him. He wasn't the most unpredictable ninja for nothing. Instead of explaining all of this to Harry though, he just pat him on the head and told him he'd explain it to him when he was older. He snickered at the infuriated look on Harry's face though.

They still weren't sure what they would do in a few years when Harry would turn eleven, or even after that.

To Naruto, the wizarding world could be saved, even though it would take quite a bit of time and a lot of patience, he was sure he could do it.

Besides, he was someone that valued change and needed to be out in the world, he knew that he would need to leave this place in a few years and he from spending so much time with the boy, he knew that Harry was the same as him.

The boy had really broken out of his shell during his time here. Between Naruto, the rest of the toads, and being able to express himself without any fear of retribution, he was proving to be a rather bright boy, a bit of a bookworm really, who had discovered a love of pranks, which was just another point in Naruto's book.

Harry in only two weeks found his chakra core it usually took about three to four weeks, unless you had an unnaturally large core; which is a bit easier to find. Because it was harder for those with larger cores to control their chakra, he started Harry on basic control exercises and had him practice them every day.

He wasn't sure what type art Harry would specialize in, be it: nin or gen or even taijutsu. They probably wouldn't know for a while- at least until Harry grew a bit more.

Naruto's thoughts strayed from Harry to what was going on with the rest of the world. They had been disconnected from it so they really didn't know what was happening. Was the old man plotting? What about what had happened after the trial? Speaking of the old man, Harry had asked why he hadn't just killed him and be done with it. He knew that normal people hadn't known anything about magic, or he should say what they thought was magic.

He had finally found out what it was that allowed the people who called themselves magic users to do, what it was they did. It had happened when Harry had used what was apparently known as accidental magic on Gamakichi after he was hit by a prank.

Naruto had just so happened to be practicing his senjutsu, surprisingly it worked where they were, and had recognized the energy that Harry was using.

It was natural energy and he was channeling it naturally with no physical changes as a representation of its use. He had panicked at first, worried that Harry would start changing into a frog any second, but when he just got an odd look from the boy, he knew something was different about how he was affected by it.

Through a bit of experimentation, they learned that while it was natural energy he was channeling, it was just a bit different than what Naruto was using.

The energy from the planet was a bit different on this world than the world Naruto came from. There was no other explanation as to why it had a bit of a different feel to it, and why Harry could do different things with it than what Naruto could do.

It had intrigued Naruto and he started experimenting in his spare time with it while Harry was reading, training, or just lazing about.

Meanwhile, he was busy learning a few things from Fukasaku and Shima that they felt he needed to know, a few techniques he hadn't known like **Doton: Retsudotensho **and **Katon: Gamyu Endan**, among other things. This was how it was for quite a while, but Naruto was starting to feel tense.

Every time he went into Sage Mode, he felt something off. Not necessarily anything bad but he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. He hid his feeling from Harry but he knew something was about to happen, he just had no idea what.

XxXx

Things had taken a turn for the worst for the rest of the world. When it was confirmed that the events that had happened in the courtroom were not fake, people started to panic.

It wasn't everyday that you found out that there actually was such a thing as magic in the world. Some people actually wanted to know more about it, they wanted to really understand what it was that made magic, well, magic. However, there were those that were afraid of it.

They were the ones that said it had to have come from some type of demonic deals with the devil, or something along those lines, and that they needed to be destroyed. Unfortunately, it was not the minority who thought this.

The saying that humans fear what they don't understand really comes into focus at this point in time. That fear led to hatred, which in turn led to violence.

Dumbledore didn't help matters in the slightest. Many of the ministry's obliviator squads were working around the clock to try and contain the issue.

It hadn't worked.

They didn't know anything about recorded videos or the like, and so whenever they obliviated a group of people, they only had to look on the evening news to remember the events that took place in the courtroom and eventually regained their memory of being obliviated. It turns out that people didn't like having their memories messed with.

Dumbledore only made matters worse by campaigning that he had done all of this to prove that muggles would understand their world.

However, they way he went about it was what caused problems. He actively went about casting magic in muggle areas, frequently using it on children. In his mind, he was simply providing the children with new entertainment .To the parents and many of the children, he was a stranger in strange clothes doing strange things to their kids.

The reaction wasn't what you would call warm.

He, and everyone who was discovered to have magic, were soon ostracized as the muggles soon connected, correctly, many strange events to the magic users.

World leaders who hadn't known about magic existing, which would be the majority of them, were violently angry at those who had known about it before hand.

They accused them of trying to keep what could be a new type of weapon or new source of power to themselves, to either use against them or to start a new type of war.

It quickly degraded down to shouting, that is until someone pulled a gun and a person was killed. It wasn't long after that, what would be known as World War III, took place.

It hadn't started off as a war with fighting, more of one that dealt with espionage. Countries would send their people to infiltrate what they believed to be magical communities, and while they hadn't had much luck in the beginning, they managed to stumble across a rather short, drunken, magical person selling illegal items on the black market.

He was quickly taken in for interrogation and with the promise of freedom, where he then proceeded to spill everything he knew about his world and how they hid away from the non-magical. He did happen to get his freedom, however, not in the form he would have liked.

No one ever saw Mundungus Fletcher after that.

It wasn't long after that that they managed to find the local British wizarding community know as Diagon Alley. It happened to be that time of the year when school was about to start again and the streets were packed with families and their children.

So when the military dropped in unexpectedly, there was just chaos. Pure and utter chaos and there was no stopping it after that.

Many were taken away into secure facilities to experiment and see what it was that let wizards do what it was that they did.

There were many pointless deaths in these experiments where they found out nothing of use. It was at this point that the real fighting started, countries angry over what was happening, and it wasn't long before they started using all of the weapons at their disposal, meaning that they used nuclear arms at the same time.

There was a brief period of about five seconds where there was absolute silence in the world as they waited with abated breath for their imminent death. And as they made contact, Naruto's eyes snapped open.

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	9. In Which They Live

**Chapter 9: In Which They Live**

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Disclaimer: I own nothing, oh but I want it so bad.

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED!

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XxXx

Naruto wasn't sure what was going on. When he went to sleep last night he had been in his bed with Harry curled up next to him, hogging all the covers.

The boy had been having nightmares recently and had quietly asked if he could sleep with Naruto, and it wasn't as if he could really turn the boy away, so he just moved over and let Harry move in next to him.

So it was a bit of a surprise to him to find himself and Harry laying, not in his bed, but in a rather misty looking plane of nothingness. It took a moment for it to sink in but when it did, he quickly jumped up while grabbing Harry to try to shake him awake.

"Harry wake up," he said while trying to prop the boy up. However, his eyes remained closed. Naruto was getting worried, no he was past worried. He was almost at a full-blown panic now. "Wake up Harry!"

"He won't wake."

Naruto quickly turned to face where he had heard the voice coming from. However, he saw nothing more than the everlasting mist surrounding him.

"Who's there? What did you do to Harry?" he said calming himself down. It would do him no good to panic in this situation. He picked Harry up and held him protectively in his arms as the voice spoke again. This time he managed to recognize it as a female speaking.

"Harry will be fine, I just need him asleep while I speak to you," the voice said as the mist started to part a bit. "What I have to say is something no child needs to hear."

"And what do you need to speak to me about that could be so important?" he said warily as the mist parted once more to reveal the person speaking to him.

He could barely hold back his shock at the person standing before him. Dark red hair, a soft beautiful face, and piercing green eyes he had only seen on one person before, the one in his arms.

"Are you...?"

"Yes my name is Lily Potter, or rather, the spirit of Lily Potter."

Naruto's eyes bugged out at that statement. "But how are you here and where is here?"

"It's a long story, but luckily we have all the time in the world that we need to speak," she sighed. She moved forward, walked past him a bit, and sat down on a bench that had appeared the moment she moved. She motioned him over and he cautiously made his way towards the bench that she was sitting on. They were quiet for a moment before Lily sighed.

"Okay, where to start first?"

"Um, how about where we are and why you're here?" Naruto said while adjusting Harry in his arms. The boy moved quite a bit in his sleep. Naruto still wasn't sure this was actually Lily Potter, but he really didn't have much choice but to listen to her if he wanted to figure out what was going on.

"Hmm, okay. I'm here to speak to you about my son for the most part and what's been going on in the world. Where we are is known by many names. Some call it an astral plane and some call it a station of awakening. But basically we're in limbo," she said with a gentle smile which only widened at Naruto's expression.

"Limbo? But does that mean that..."

"Yes and no. It's fairly complicated but I'll do my best to explain it. It started when you and Harry went into hiding. Dumbledore, in his self-induced rage, managed to expose the magical world to the mundane world in a spectacular fashion. By chasing you, killing and injuring innocent people in a government building, he managed to be caught on camera.

"Within a week, the entire world knew about the magical one that had been hidden under everyone's nose and no amount of obliviation could fix that. It wasn't long before the military and the government became involved and things escalated into a full-blown war over the problem.

"Magical people and creatures were captured and experimented on to see how they were able to do the things they did. The people of the wizarding world were prosecuted and almost exterminated because of what Albus did. It was truly a sad scene to watch."

She said this with an emotionless voice, as though she was trying to hold back her feelings on the subject.

"But why would they do that to all those people? Why would they even go to war over something like this?" Naruto asked in a desperate tone.

Lily sighed heavily before looking away.

"People fear what they don't understand, and that fear can easily lead to hatred. I'm sure you know what I'm speaking about given your history. The world isn't always a nice place to live in."

That comment hurt. It wasn't that she said it in a malicious way, but that it brought up bad memories of his childhood, which hadn't been the best for obvious reasons.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean," he said in a rather dead tone. They were both silent for a moment before Lily continued.

"The reason that the war actually started makes a bit sick. Some world leaders had known about magic and hadn't told other nation leaders about it. They didn't tell them because there were hardly any magical societies in those parts of the world, and magic was on a need to know basis at the time.

"They wanted to use magic for themselves, to see how far they could take it for their own personal use. They all wanted more power and saw magic as a perfect way to get that power. Not to mention that they felt that the other nations were keeping the new power to themselves. Basically it was all just one big cluster fuck of greed and self indulgence."

Naruto was being reminded more and more of the council back home the more he heard. It was like a child throwing a tantrum because he couldn't get what he wanted. Naruto was almost afraid to ask but he knew it would come up sooner or later anyway.

"What did they do to the magical people and magical creatures?"

"They were all experimented on. It took quite a while for them to find where they actually were because of the various enchantments surrounding the areas where wizards were the most heavily populated, but they got lucky and managed to capture a rather weak willed individual who happened to give the location away to the foreign military.

They raided Diagon Alley and many other heavily populated magical grounds and took everything they could find. They took the men, the woman and children. They took all the magical creatures, they took every book, every artifact that could be found and left everything in shambles.

They did horrible and unspeakable things to the people and the creatures and they got nothing out of their efforts. It was nothing but a waste," she said vehemently.

"The only thing they really managed to discover were things out of the books and they couldn't really put those exercises into practice. When they learned that they couldn't really use the knowledge contained in the books, they started to kill them all off, thinking that they would be a threat to them, when in reality, they only wanted to be left alone.

Well, most of them anyway. The other countries weren't at all happy about what their neighbors were doing and it sparked the war, but the thing is, they had powerful weapons. Too powerful if you ask me seeing as they managed to destroy the world and everyone in it."

That statement sent a chill up Naruto's spine.

"What do you mean they destroyed the world? How could they destroy the world?"

"With what they call WMD's or weapons of mass destruction. It devastated the entire world, killing everyone and everything and there was nothing anyone could really do about it in the end."

"So all of this started because I saved Harry from his horrible Aunt and Uncle?" he said in a small whisper. His face was deathly pale at the news he was receiving. He wanted to think that what she was telling him was nothing but a lie but it was too intricate, too consistent to really be a lie.

"No, it wasn't anything that you did," she said strongly. "This is all because of that manipulative, evil, old man named Albus Dumbledore and his feud with the wandering spirit known as Voldemort. If it wasn't for them none of this would've happened."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. What happened to him?"

"He was still wandering around somewhere in Albania when all of this was going on. If things had gone differently, he would've been a big problem in a few years. Luckily that didn't happen but, well now you know what did."

"So that's it? We're all dead?" After everything he had been through in his life, to die in his sleep because of a bomb, it wasn't how he thought he was going to go. It was actually a bit anticlimactic for a shinobi death.

He thought of all the children who died because of this, all the people and creatures. It was just like what happened on his world except this time he was killed along with everyone else.

He looked down at the sleeping form of Harry, tightened his arms around the boy, and couldn't help the small tear that left his eye at the thought of the young boy who would never experience the pains and pleasures life had to offer.

She watched the man she had come to respect hold her only child like her father would hold her after a nightmare. She knew that he would be good for Harry and that Harry would be good for him as well.

She had seen what he had gone through as a child and his adventures as he grew when she found out he was taking care of her child. She couldn't have asked for someone better to protect her son and teach him well. If she and James couldn't do it, then he was the next best thing to teach him the right way and protect him if anything happened.

"No, there's a reason that I'm here telling this to you," Lily said in a soft voice. "You can go back, before all of this started."

Naruto's head shot up, his eyes wide.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Harry didn't die. That place you were in, even though it was connected to the earth it was an entirely new dimension.

"You and Harry can go back before all of this started, back to the day you met each other for the first time. You can stop this from happening and stop the old man from doing the things he's doing. And you can stop Voldemort if he comes back to power, no, when he comes back to power. Only you and Harry will remember what happened if you choose to go back."

Naruto was in a state of shock. Here was the chance he wished he'd had with his world, the chance to go back and save everyone. And he would be able to give the small boy in his arms a chance to live his life, his childhood, the way he wasn't.

"But, how is that possible? Is it time travel or..."

She smiled gently at him.

"It's possible, because you don't come from this dimension. Everyone has some form of connection to the planet. Muggles are those that are the least able to connect with the earth, wizards and witches are much closer to it because that's what magic is, energy from the earth, even if they've forgotten that fact. Animals and magical creatures are the most in tune with the earth for various reasons.

But you, who came from a dimension where the earth is very different, where you are so much more connected with your planet that you can command the elements themselves, and where you have the ability to actually connect directly with the planet and use your body as a conduit for its energy. When you first went into what you call Sennin or Sage Mode in this dimension, you established a link with the planet itself.

That link, no matter what happens, will always be there in some form or another. The techniques you used to create that sub pocket dimension was fueled by your power, which has been steeped in the energy of the earth itself, is what's going to be used to send the both of you back."

"So, if I have this right, we'll be sent back to the day we first met using the sub pocket as a type of basis for us to travel along?"

"Exactly," she said.

"But, wouldn't we just be sent back to the day when we first went into hiding?"

"Normally yes, you would have, but it all goes back to that connection you have with the earth. It's going to be used like a tether that you'll travel along. The sub pocket will be used to get you to a certain point but that connection will be used to take you back to the beginning."

"But what if the same thing happens? What if Dumbledore reveals the existence to magic again and the same thing happens? Then it'll be all have been for nothing," Naruto said slowly. His fears were not unfounded. If Dumbledore did catch him with Harry then it could easily lead to the same outcome as before.

Lily was quiet. She really didn't want to say this, but she knew that it would be the only way for things to be alright in the end.

"It won't happen if Harry still lives with my sister and her husband."

"What?" Naruto cried. "Why would you want him to go back to those people? You're his mother!"

"Of course I don't want him going back to Petunia, but if he doesn't stay there then Dumbledore will get suspicious and find out what's going on and we'll be right back where we started," she said a bit green in the face.

"Harry has to go back with Petunia and he... he has to go to Hogwarts when he turns eleven. I wish things could be different but there are so many things that are going to happen at that blasted school that will have a profound effect on the magical world and the rest of the world in general."

"Trust me," she said staring into his eyes her own glistening with tears, "it's the last thing I want for my only son. But I know that you'll be there for him, to guide and protect him because I can't. In this world, you're the only thing he really has. Please, will you do this for me, look after my child?"

How could he possibly refuse such a request? He had grown extremely fond of Harry himself and would've watched after him even if Lily hadn't asked him to. He looked at Lily, who had such a desperate look on her face that he really didn't need to think hard on his answer.

"I'll take care of Harry, it's a promise."

"Thank you."

XxXx

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, Lily now holding Harry as he slept. She said that she had wanted to hold her son for just a little while, as any mother would want. As he looked at the two of them, there was as question Naruto wanted an answer to and this would probably be his only chance at getting it.

"Lily," he said slowly, "I hope you don't mind my asking but..."

"Yes?"

"Do you know how Harry survived that night? I thought that the killing curse was unable to be blocked."

"Hmm, well it really is simple. It's one thing that Dumbledore did get right when he came to his conclusion of why Harry survived. When James told us to leave there were already wards in place to keep us there and I knew that he would be no match for Voldemort. James was killed with the killing curse and then he came for us.

"There wasn't really much I could do, so before he broke the door down all I could do was give my son one last kiss on his forehead and tried to plead for his life. Voldemort didn't want me, he said he would spare me and that he only wanted to kill Harry, but I couldn't leave my only son at the mercy of that monster."

"So, I took the curse head on, knowing what would happen to me. It was the most horrible feeling, but the fact that I was aware of what was going on was surprising. I later found out that when I stood in front of that curse willingly, hoping against hope that Harry would be alright, that my magic and an imprint of my soul were left with Harry.

There was also a bit of magic from the earth involved in this but I honestly don't know what it did. Whether it protected Harry or saved me from being sent to hell or having my soul destroyed I really don't know. The earth is such a picky thing, that its magic is unpredictable and surprising."

"I do know that the scar on his forehead is the symbol of protection that I left for him. It really isn't a scar at all to be honest. It saved him, and in turn saved me from having my soul destroyed by that curse.

"That's why I'm here and James isn't, because I was protected, for the most part, from that curses worst effect. The curse can either destroy ones soul or send it straight into hell. It was also due in part to that prophecy that was made shortly before his birth and quite a bit of luck, and so here I am."

"What a terrible curse, to be able to destroy ones soul."

"Yes, it really is. Naruto, what do you plan on doing when you go back?"

"Well, since Harry has to stay with those 'people' I'm going to be paying them a little visit. They're going to rue the day they messed with Harry. And I don't usually use the word rue," he said with a slight sadistic gleam in his eyes. He wasn't the best prankster in Konoha for nothing.

Lily giggled at that last remark. She knew he would do right by Harry, even if he had to live with the Dursleys himself. She looked down as she heard a groan.

"It seems like Harry's waking up," she said as she looked at her son. "Harry, time to wake up son."

"Hmm, five more minutes," he murmured. His eyes snapped open at the sound of a woman's laughter along with the familiar baritone laugh that he knew came from his guardian. He looked to see a beautiful woman with red hair and a soft face staring at him. The eyes, however, clued him into who it could be.

"Mum?"

She nodded, and that was all he needed to see before his face was buried in her shoulder, tears of joy soaking the sweater she was wearing. They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity, just mother and son.

Naruto stayed silent, not wanting to intrude on such a private moment. He would've walked away to give them some room, but Lily just waved him back down.

As Harry pulled away from his mother's shoulders, he looked around with wide eyes, wondering where they were. As he laid his eyes on Naruto, he immediately started asking questions.

"Naruto-sensei, what's going on? Where are we?"

Naruto sighed.

"That kid is a simple question with a very long and complicated answer."

Lily sat Harry down in between the two of them as Naruto started explaining in a rather abbreviated version of what was going on and what was going to happen. Harry was understandably upset with the news of what had happened to the world and the fact that he was going back to live with the Dursleys.

"But why do I have to go back? They're just going to put me back in the cupboard again!" he cried. "I don't want to live with them again I want to stay with you!"

"Harry," Naruto said softly, "You may have to live with the Dursleys, but there is no way that they're going to treat you the way they did before."

"How do you know that?" he asked despondently as he leaned against his mother's side.

"Because I'm going to keep you safe from them, even if you have to live with them. They lay just one finger on you, if I find one hair out of place on your messy head, then they have to deal with me and damn the consequences," he said strongly, while staring Harry in the eye, showing him the promise and determination that glowed beneath his blue irises.

Harry had only seen Naruto get like this when they had been in the courtroom before all of this had happened. He knew by the tone of his voice that things would work out. They usually did around the blond. Slowly he nodded his head, as he knew he really didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Alright, I'll go. But I want a toad with me just in case," Harry said with a bit of a pout on his lips. If he was going back to suffer with the Dursleys, he wasn't going to suffer alone.

Naruto just chuckled before ruffling his hair making it even messier than it was before. He tried to straighten it but gave up after a few seconds calling it a lost cause. He turned to his mother to see if she would help but judging by the large smirk on her face, she wasn't going to be any help.

Suddenly, Lily gasped and turned to face Naruto while clutching Harry closer to her.

"Naruto, it's almost time for the both of you to go," she said sadly. "Harry, I want you to know that no matter what I love you. No matter what anyone says to you just know that I love you with everything that I am."

"I love you too mum," he said tears slowly making their way down his face. "I love you too."

As she wrapped her arms around him, one more time she turned to speak to Naruto.

"I'm glad that I know someone like you is taking care of my son. Be careful dealing with the old man and with Voldemort Naruto."

"I will. They don't hold a candle to me," he said a bit pompously.

"Show off," came the muffled response from Harry as he untangled himself from his mother to make his way over to where Naruto was now standing.

"Just one more thing before you go. Everything will be the same as the day you met except for a few things. The techniques you used to will still be active. That means that the sub pocket dimension will still be there because of the way we're going to be using it, even though you haven't actually done it yet. "

"Really? But, wait how... ugh, time travel is so confusing."

"Yes I suppose it can be," Lily agreed as the mist started to condense around her form. "Harry, Naruto, while I can't wait to see you both again I hope it won't be until you're both terribly old men."

"Mum, I wish you hadn't died. I wish you were still alive," Harry yelled as she became more distant.

"Oh Harry, I am alive. Within you, I still live on. As long as you don't forget about me, I'll still be with you. And like I said, we'll see each other again one day."

As she faded completely and they were taken over by darkness, they could hear her last whisper off in the distance.

"_One day._"

**End of Part I**

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AN: I like reviews, just so you know. Thanks again to my beta Barrel of Monkeys for editing this chapter.


	10. Part 2: In Which There Is A Prologue

**Chapter 10: Part 2: In Which There Is A Prologue**

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Disclaimer: If I'm writing here on fanfiction do you really think I own anything?

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

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XxXx

Harry stared at the letter in his hands with a blank look on his face. He still wasn't sure that he wanted to do this even though he knew that he really didn't have too much choice in the matter. He didn't want to go to Hogwarts, not really, even though his parents had gone there.

He knew he would have to put up with the old man trying to manipulate him into the boy-who-lived image, which was something he wasn't and he knew that he would also have to put up with the shoddy teaching there.

Oh don't get him wrong, he knew there were some good teachers at Hogwarts from what he had heard, but that didn't compare to the bad things he had heard about some of the teachers.

History teachers that can put anyone to sleep by only talking about one subject, verbally abusive potion teachers who treated students unfairly, and a useless, nasty, caretakers just to name a few.

He brushed hair out of his eyes thinking he needed a haircut soon, while taking another look at the letter.

He sighed and looked out of the window of his room, at Number Four Privet Drive, to the house across the street where Naruto lived. Currently there was no one occupying the house as Naruto had told him earlier that week that he would be gone handling a few things that needed to be done.

While he didn't know what it was that Naruto was doing, as the man refused to tell him, he did know that it was very important whatever it was he was doing. As he heard his noisy relatives moving about downstairs he thought back to when things in the house started to change for him.

When he had first came back to live with the Dursleys, he had been rather apprehensive about the situation, downright terrified to be honest but he wouldn't admit that out loud. That was until Naruto came and "spoke" with the Dursleys.

While he didn't know what had been said, as he hadn't been in the room at the time, by the time that his aunt and uncle walked out of the room they were deathly pale and shaking from head to toe in fear while Naruto practically skipped out of the room with a rather creepy smile on his face. No, he was pretty sure he didn't want to know what happened in that room. Ever.

As for Dudley, well, Harry didn't think that he would ever be right in the head again after Naruto caught the boy bullying kids even after he had already had a talk with him. Again, Harry didn't want to know what he did to the other boy, but needless to say, he hasn't bullied anyone since then.

While Harry did have to live with the Dursleys or else the old man would find out, he really didn't spend much time there. He was either next door with Naruto, or out of the country for the day learning things he never thought possible.

Of course, he was back before nightfall so things wouldn't be too obvious thanks to Naruto's jutsu. They had been all over the world in the course of a few years: America, Italy, Japan, China, Germany, and Norway just to name a few places.

It hadn't all been just for fun. Naruto would take him into the magical aspects of the countries, under a Henge as no one would be able to dispel it since it was chakra, not magic, or natural energy as he had come to learn.

He learned about magical creatures, about different magical cultures, magical laws and how they interacted with each other depending on the country. It was a learning experience for the both of them really.

At the time, he hadn't really known what was going on when Naruto would leave him with a clone and go off by himself somewhere, but when he asked him, he told him he was making connections in the magical world and getting information that would come in handy later on down the line. What Harry didn't know was that it basically meant he was digging up dirt on people.

They found a bit of information about his heritage when they went to Gringotts. That is, after they got at least five different privacy oaths from the goblins. None of them were happy about that, but they did it because if there is one thing that the goblins respected more than a large amount of gold, it was power, and that was something that Naruto had in abundance.

They found out that while the Potter family was an old one, at least as old as the Blacks, they had lost almost all of their money over the past few years because of all the funding they put into the war and bad investments.

Harry still couldn't believe that his father had been short-sighted enough to put almost all the money they had in the war, leaving him nothing but a trust vault to get through school with. Not to mention some of the ridiculous things he invested his money into.

Honestly to this day, it boggled his, and Naruto's mind how one person could spend over five million galleons in so short a time.

Although he knew that his father would help out with the war effort, who wouldn't, he himself wouldn't be stupid enough to put so much money in that they ended up almost totally broke, but then, that's what happens when you work for Dumbledore.

\At least his mother had the foresight to set up her own separate account from the money she made with her work in the ministry.

He still wasn't sure what she did but it must have been important as she had made enough for him to live comfortably for a few years after he graduated.

It had also come as a bit of a shock to learn that he was also descended from the Peverell family.

According to the goblins, who he was a bit reluctant to really trust just from his first meeting with them, the Peverell line went back even further than the time of the founders of Hogwarts, which was something not many people could say.

Not much was really known about them, as the vault had been locked for centuries, other than the fact that it was one of the first to become extinct within the male line.

There had been those who contested for headship of the family but apparently, there were certain attributes one had to have to claim headship of the family or even to wear the inheritance ring, which had gone missing some years ago.

That hadn't been all they managed to do while at Gringotts though. Naruto himself set up his own vault filling it with so many coins it made Harry's eye bug out.

Naruto had obviously seen his face because he turned to him with a cocky smile before saying, "Hey, gotta start off somewhere right?" Harry hadn't known how to respond to that besides a small shake of the head.

That had also been the day that both Harry and Naruto found out how magical Britain viewed him. A savior, a hero, someone to be praised for surviving something no one survived before. It made them both shake their heads in disgust.

As they looked on in the books about him Harry became more outraged and disgusted than he ever had in his short few years of life. All the lies printed about him, all the false stories about how he conquered dragons and saved maidens were enough to make him vomit.

Naruto seeing his expression had quickly got them out of Diagon Alley and back to his home on Privet Drive, where Harry proceeded to crawl under the covers and pretend what he hadn't just read what he did.

He looked back at his Hogwarts letter again and sighed. He would wait until Naruto got back to send out his reply.

XxXx

Naruto was currently sitting in on a meeting with the Board of Governors, tuning out their useless babbling while making it look like he was listening with rapt attention. A skill he gained from years of listening to Iruka drone on and on in class when he was a child.

Why he was here at a meeting with the Board was something that only Naruto knew. Although he told everyone else a reason they could accept, he wanted a position on the school staff, but it wasn't his only reason.

He knew that Harry was going to Hogwarts this year and that he would be in the direct line of Dumbledore's manipulative sights. He wasn't going to let his young protégé handle that on his own, no way in hell.

Normally someone in his position, a no name, wouldn't even be considered for what it was he was trying to do, but thanks to all the dirt he had on all of the people in the room he had no problem shifting things in his favor a bit. Being a ninja certainly paid off in so many ways.

A few hints here, some subtle wordplay there, and most of the board members were sweating and shifting in their seats. Their nervous habits only intensified when Naruto would let his gaze linger on them for a second or two too long.

Judging by the looks the other blond in the room was giving him, he seemed to be upset over Naruto's masterful manipulations, and maybe a bit jealous? What was his name again, Mallory or something? Oh well it didn't matter to Naruto because three minutes later he got the position.

Wouldn't Harry be surprised to see him when he got off the train on September 1. He really had grown attached to the little imp as he had taken to calling him.

He knew what it was like to grow up with no love and he didn't want Harry to lose that innocence that most children had like he did when he was a child. That's why he did what he did to the Dursleys.

_Flashback_

_After sending the children out of the room Naruto turned to the Dursleys with a look that could've stopped a herd of stampeding rhinos._

"_Alright look you overgrown whale. That boy out there has to live in this house and none of us are happy with the situation. So here's what's going to happen. Harry gets a room, a real room, proper clothes, at least three meals a day, and absolutely no chores. After the last ones you gave him I wouldn't dare have you give him more."_

_Vernon, who had been going through a rainbow of colors the entire time Naruto was speaking, jumped up with all the bluster he could summon to stare down the taller, more menacing looking man. _

"_We don't want that freak here in this house and there's not a damn thing you can do to make me keep him here! I don't know who you think you are telling me what I can and can't do in my own house but you'll regret talking to me like that!"_

_Vernon expected many things at that moment, for Naruto blow up, for him to back off, to get scared. What he didn't expect was the quiet chuckling and disturbing grin that showed up on Naruto's face._

_Vernon, losing some of his nerve started backing off while Petunia was frozen in fear. That when they both started seeing visions of their own deaths as the air became suffocating and saturated with the feeling of death. _

"_You sir, have made a big mistake," Naruto said. And as his eyes turned a flaming red Vernon could feel something slowly trickling down his pant leg as he stared into the eyes of what he now called demon. The resulting screams were music to Naruto's ears._

_Flashback end_

_'Those were good times,' _Naruto thought as the meeting closed and everyone started heading out the door.

He quickly looked around to make sure he was alone before reverse summoning himself back to Privet Drive to meet a rather anxious Harry.

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R&R


	11. In Which Things Suck

Disclaimer: I'm not a rich blond haired English woman with the initials JKR so obviously I don't own anything.

AN: So the lateness of this chapter can be attributed to several different things, such as moving, exhaustion, and writers block. When I say writers block I mean I knew what I wanted to write but it didn't want to show up on my screen. So here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

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XxXx

Naruto appeared in the master bedroom of his home, immediately discarding the cloak he was wearing. Honestly, how was he expected to move in that thing? The first time he wore it he nearly tripped on the hem several times.

After he was done changing, Naruto summoned a small toad giving it instructions to let Harry know that he was back.

It wasn't five minutes later that he heard the door bang open and had his arms full of a young newly turned eleven year old boy with hair as messy as his. "How's it going kid?" Naruto said with a wide grin.

Harry seemed to hesitate for a moment before reaching into his pants pocket pulling out a cream-colored envelope.

"I got my Hogwarts letter, just like you said I would..." he trailed off.

"But?"

"Well, I'm not sure I want to go. I mean sure I want to go to the school my parents went to and everything but," he stopped trying to calm himself before speaking again.

"I really don't want to go to a place where I'm going to be looked at as if I'm some sort of messiah or something. Not to mention the old man's gonna be there and you know what he's going to try to do and I'm gonna have to deal with this all by myself and..." Harry would've kept going if not for the hand that had been placed on his head.

He looked up to see Naruto still grinning widely at him.

"Kid, what makes you think I'm going to let you go to that place all by yourself?"

Harry was momentarily stunned. All this time he was worrying about having dealing with all this by himself, and Naruto already had an out for him. He started laughing quietly, he really shouldn't have been surprised if the things Naruto had told him he had done as a kid were true.

"But, how..." he started.

"That's for me to know and you to find out later. Besides, you shouldn't have had to worry about it in the first place. It's the adults that are supposed to take care of and protect the children, and as an adult I consider your welfare my responsibility. That means that you can come to me for anything and I'll do my best to help you, alright?" he finished seriously.

Harry nodded his head quickly. He understood what Naruto was trying to say.

"Now, if my memory serves me right it's somebody's birthday, isn't it?"

Harry gaped. How on earth could he have forgotten his own birthday? Naruto, who seemed to know what he was thinking chuckled softly before speaking again.

"Now what is it you want to do first?"

It only took a moment to decide what he wanted.

"I want to get my wand."

XxXx

They made their way through Diagon Alley at a leisurely pace as they had plenty of time to kill. The alley itself was fairly crowded, as it was the time of the year when kids were getting supplies for the next school year.

It hadn't taken them long to get to Ollivander's wand shop, with a disguise, Harry had kept his many fans from noticing who he was. As they entered the dusty shop Harry's anxiousness started to show on his face.

While he was extremely happy learning from Naruto, he really wanted to learn the magic his birth parents had knew.

Many ridiculous thoughts about not being able to match with a wand started to enter his head, and he started to become even more nervous than he was already.

Naruto, who must have seen the expression on his face, placed a hand on his head, a familiar gesture that was usually more than enough to calm him down. He had just started to relax, when a voice from behind made him jump.

He quickly turned around to see a rather ancient looking man with scraggly white hair and unfocused eyes looking at him.

"Ah, I wondered when I would be seeing you Mister Potter," he said sagely.

Both Harry and Naruto tensed up at the mention of his real name.

"How did-"

"Oh when you've been around as long as I have you tend to learn a thing or two," he said. He moved towards Harry slowly, focusing on the spot where his scar was covered. "Sad to say I'm the one who sold the wand that committed the deed, but back then I couldn't have really known what was to happen," he muttered in a low voice. "Now naturally you're here for a wand of course. Which is your wand arm?" he asked while heading towards the back of the shop.

Harry, who was still a bit blindsided simply held out his right arm where, less than a second later, a tape measure quickly took his numbers. Ollivander returned from the back with stacks upon stacks of slim boxes, and started shoving pieces of wood in his face.

The results where no less than spectacular or as Naruto would later describe it, one of the funniest damn things he'd ever seen.

Apparently, while working with Naruto over the years training with natural energy and chakra in general had made him a 'bit' stronger than kids his age magically. When combined with wands that weren't suited to him, well, things got blown up, set on fire, disintegrated, and changed into a permanent hot pink color all within the span of twenty minutes.

By this time, Harry, whose face was doing a rather good impression of a tomato at the time, was becoming a bit irritated at his lack of success with a wand, as well as Naruto's laughter in the background and the rather creepy grin that Ollivander had on his face.

It was another twenty minutes before Ollivander came out with what Naruto would call a shit-eating grin as he carried a single box delicately in his hands. He pulled a slim dark wand out of the box and slowly handed it over to Harry.

"Try this one," he said lowly.

From the moment it touch his skin Harry could tell something was different with this one than the others he had tried. It felt odd in his hands. Better, much better, than the others he had tried but still not a match for him. Seeing nothing happen, Ollivander's grin quickly faded away.

"I was sure..." he started. "But never mind. You, Mr. Potter, have been my trickiest customer to date.

For a while there I was certain that the wand in your hand would be just suited to you but it appears I was mistaken."

"Does that mean that you don't have any more wands for me to try out?" Harry asked nervously. Naruto also sat up a bit straighter at Harry's question.

"Of course not, I have many more." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Naruto, who had been content to just stay in the background so far, spoke up. "So does that mean that we have to try EVERY wand you have in your shop? Because it looks like you have quite a few more left."

"No, he won't have to try the rest of the wands I know the perfect one for him," and with that, he quickly left before either of them could say anything. He returned not a moment later with an extremely dusty box that looked like it hadn't seen light in years.

"Try this one."

Like before with the previous wand he felt something different than he had with the other wands, however, unlike with the other wand where he felt something was missing, he instead felt the oddest sense of completion. The feeling was accompanied by a wide range of colored sparks shooting from the tip of his wand.

"Well," Ollivander spoke after a minute of silence, "It seems we found you're choice wand. Oak, 13 inches with an unusual combination of unicorn and Thestral hairs. I must admit, it's one of the most unusual combinations I have ever made."

"Why is that?" Naruto asked.

"Because of what they represent. A unicorn is one of the purest creatures on this earth with many healing properties and represent longevity among other things. Thestrals, on the other hand, are almost the complete opposite of a unicorn. To even be able to see them you need to have seen someone die by your very own eyes. While they are not dangerous in the least they are dark creatures for the simple fact that it's the way their innate magic is," he paused for a moment to catch his breath.

"I really could go on but I feel we've spent enough time here and I do think I may have other customers soon. That will be seven galleons please."

Naruto quickly paid the man, quite tired of being in the dusty shop for as long as they had and made his way swiftly towards the door. Harry, however, lingered in the doorway for a moment, a million questions blazing through his head, although only one stayed at the forefront of his mind. And, as if he was reading his thoughts Ollivander spoke up once again.

"If you're wondering about the reaction you got to the wand you held before the last, I believe it was because of the simple fact that it was brother to the one that gave you that scar on your forehead."

Harry's eyes widened quite comically, and as Naruto pulled him out of the door- neither heard Ollivander's last words for them.

"That boy will do great things with that wand one day, great things indeed."

XxXx

As they made their way from the store, something else was bugging Harry.

"Naruto, how do we know that he won't tell anyone that I was there today?"

Naruto looked down at him for a moment before lightly tapping the tip of his nose, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Secret," he said smugly.

Harry decided right then and there that he would forever hate secrets. Even if they needed to be kept.

XxXx

The rest of the day had actually gone pretty smoothly, seeing as though there wasn't anything that had taken as long as getting his wand.

Although many witches constantly stared at them, or rather Naruto who was doing a pretty good job at ignoring his ever growing fan club.

Harry found this to be a never-ending source of amusement throughout the day and teased him mercilessly about it.

That is until he noticed the looks sent his way as well. It seemed that although they looked nothing alike, at least to them, many of the witches thought that they were father and son.

It seemed they thought that they could fill that missing mother role and constantly sent goo goo eyes at the pair of them. To say they were both decidedly creeped out would be an understatement.

Other than being immensely creeped out, nothing more happened during the time they spent in the alley. Although Harry did see a large man coming out of Gringotts gently patting his front pocket for some odd reason. He didn't think anything of it though, it was probably a bit of gold.

He had also managed to gain a new friend in a rather beautiful looking snowy owl he named Hedwig while Naruto managed to find a companion in a rather fierce looking eagle owl, who he still hadn't come up with a name for.

They took the knight bus back to the outskirts of privet drive before walking the rest of the way towards their respective houses. Although Harry really couldn't call the Dursley household his home as that spot was reserved for Naruto's home next door.

Naruto led Harry in the Dursley household, making sure he got his things, and owl, inside the house safely while making sure the Dursleys knew he was still around and was able to get them any time he wanted. Of course, the red eye effect helped immensely with that.

He stayed with Harry, examining the things they had bought in the alley that day, until the young boy had fallen asleep. Before he left, he scared the Dursleys once more for good measure, and a good laugh, before making his way to his home and falling asleep.

XxXx

To Harry the following month had to be one of the longest he had ever experienced. It had its highlights but for the most part, it was just boring.

About a week and a half after they had gone to Diagon Alley, Naruto, in a random stroke of genius, managed to come up with a seal that would, in effect hide his mind from those that would try to read it.

It hid his mind while projecting false memories that were based on what he actually did that day and his own personality.

When Harry asked how he managed to come up with the idea, he became rather quiet and mentioned just one name. Orochimaru. Harry knew immediately what he was talking about. Naruto had told him many things about Orochimaru and how similar he seemed to be to Voldemort.

"But how did thinking of Orochimaru help you come up with this?" he had asked.

"Because of Orochimaru's technique to take over another person's body involved diving deep within said persons mind. That made me remember that Dumbledore can read minds and well..."

There really wasn't much to say after that, so Naruto planted the seals at the base of Harry's neck where the ink sunk into his skin remaining invisible to all but Naruto and Harry. Before they knew it, the rest of the month had already past and they were on their way towards Kings Cross.

Although Harry had been reassured many times by Naruto that it would be alright, he was becoming increasingly nervous about this whole thing. He wished they could do what they did before and just go off by themselves and screw everyone else off but he knew that couldn't happen for two reasons.

One, the world wouldn't make it and two, Naruto had passed on his will to never give up to Harry, and he wasn't about to disappoint his sensei/pseudo father figure.

As Kings Cross came into view Harry could only think one thing.

_'This is gonna suck.'_

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R&R


	12. In Which Harry Is Irritated

Disclaimer: If I owned anything do you think I would be writing this?

AN: This is just a note to read the AN at the bottom of the chapter. Enjoy!

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XxXx

Harry sighed as the train departed from the platform. He and Naruto had managed to get him on the train without anyone recognizing exactly who he was, which was a blessing in both of their eyes.

They passed a woman with five kids who all had hair as red as hers, who just happened to be spouting off about the platform and muggles in the non-magic section of the station.

They knew it had to be a set up because of the way she just happened to be looking around and the fact that it just so happened to be a family that Naruto knew was in Dumbledores pocket from what he had gleaned from the old man's mind.

They also had to sneak by fans of the boy-who-lived, as they knew he would be attending Hogwarts this year. The amount of older women in the crowd was almost enough to cause Harry to vomit and more than enough to cause Naruto to almost break out into hysterics.

A kick to the shins quickly stopped that although he did get a fist to the head for it. In Harry's eyes, it was more than worth it.

As it turned out it was even harder than he thought it would be to say goodbye to the person who had practically raised him, the Dursleys didn't count, and taught him almost everything he knew about the world.

He wouldn't admit it, even in his head, but he did start to get a bit teary eyed, that was until he saw a rather silly grin on Naruto's face.

"Don't worry too much kid," he said confidently. "We'll see each other soon enough."

"Yeah, and when we do can we go out of the country again?"

"No problem, now get on the train. It's almost time to go."

Harry nodded and turned to race through the door but stopped short. He turned back around and gave Naruto a fierce hug that was returned with just as much intensity before heading back towards the train.

Harry looked out of the window as the scenery passed on, his thoughts going a mile a minute. How was he going to get around Dumbledore? What was up with that family he saw? What did Dumbledore really want with him? Now that he thought about it, where the heck was his Gringotts vault key?

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the compartment door. As the door opened, the first thing Harry saw was a fiery red color before a face came along to accompany it.

"Hi, I'm Ron Weasley. Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

XxXx

It was official. He hated Ron Weasley. From the moment, the boy sat down everything that came out of his mouth had to do with his being famous or complaining about his family.

Can I see your scar? Do you remember what happened that night? I would love to be famous. My little sister can be a pest. Fred and George put a spider in my bed as a prank. Percy's such a prat now that he's a prefect. And on and on and on it went. Harry really wasn't sure how much he could take it.

He really hadn't said more to the boy than 'I guess so' and 'No I don't remember' and suddenly they were best friends in the red heads eyes. Harry was honestly ready to go find another compartment when the door opened again.

This time three other boys entered the compartment. The one in the front, who Harry naturally assumed to be the leader of the little group, had blond hair, many shades paler than Narutos, that was slicked back with what seemed like quite a bit of gel, a rather pointy expression on his face, and grey eyes that observed the two currently occupying the compartment.

The other two boys behind the first, Harry knew he would have a rather hard time distinguishing them from a pair of gorillas. The blank expression on their face said more than anything else really could.

It seemed that they were the muscle of the group, or at least the bodyguards. His musings were cut short when the blond started to speak.

"They say that Harry Potter is in this compartment," he said with a rather haughty tone to his voice. "Are you him?"

Before Harry could even open his mouth, another voice spoke up.

"Yeah he is, what of it?" Spoke one Ron Weasley in a rather rude voice.

Draco turned his attention to Ron. He sneered as he looked the other boy over.

"No need to ask who you are. Red hair and freckles, dirty, and hand me down robes. You must be a Weasley."

Harry could easily see that they were about to start fighting if the color of Ron's face was any indication.

If it wasn't for the compartment door opening _again _they might have actually come to blows. A girl with extremely bushy brown hair stuck her head in the door. "Have any of you seen a toad?"

"No, now go away," Ron said.

"Well you don't need to be so rude about it," and just like that she was gone and the two boys were back to arguing about their families. What they didn't notice is that when the girl left someone else left with her.

"Well Harry's going to be friends with me right Harry?" Ron said while turning to where Harry was sitting, or rather, where he was previously sitting.

"Harry?"

XxXx

The boy in question had slipped out of the compartment a minute or two before with the girl who he now knew was named Hermione.

He decided anything was better than listening to those two going at each other and had decided to help her find this mysterious toad.

When she had found out who he was she was shooting off questions by the second. It was actually a bit frightening because her hair seemed to frizz a bit more with each question, but Harry could tell she was just nervous and babbling.

Before he could really think to answer any of the questions another boy who looked like he was about to start crying any second walked up to them.

"I can't find him! He could be anywhere on this train and..." he trailed off with a sniffle. So far Harry could only think one thing._'What on earth is wrong with these people?'_

XxXx

Turns out, they weren't that bad once Harry spoke with them at length a bit. One of the older students that they asked had been nice enough to summon the toad in question so they had headed back to their compartment with Harry following.

After they had both calmed down a bit when they realized Harry wasn't going to either make a break for it or make fun of them, they started opening up a bit more and talking about their accidental magic experiences.

Hermione had been summoning books to her from a young age and because she was muggleborn it freaked her parents out every time she did it. Although they were scared, she said, they were very supportive.

Neville on the other hand didn't show any accidental magic until later on in his childhood. He told them that his great uncle had dropped him from a two-story window and he bounced down the street.

If Neville noticed how pale both Harry and Hermione got at that part of the story he didn't say anything. Something like that just wasn't normal, no matter if it was the magical world or not. It also explained why the boy seemed so shy.

If his family was willing to drop him from a window and risk his death if he didn't have enough magic to go to Hogwarts then something was seriously wrong with them.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Harry started to tell them about his episodes with accidental magic. How he had once changed his teachers hair blue, how he regrew all of his hair after his aunt had shaved almost all of it off, and how he had apparated onto his school roof once.

Neville looked pretty surprised when Harry said he apparated onto the school roof and explained that it was an advanced bit of magic that he had done. Hermione's eyes lit up at that but luckily, she didn't say much like Harry expected her to.

They spoke for quite a while about what they expected the classes and the teacher to be like. Although Harry had heard quite a bit of bad things about some of the teachers, he wasn't going to say anything to his new friends.

He could easily tell that they had a few social problems, but then again, so did he. He didn't like attention and shied away from large groups of people.

Although he was getting better with it, he also didn't like loud voices, a bi-product of the early abuse he suffered from his family.

It was part of the reason why he didn't want to go to Hogwarts in the first place, because he knew people were going to be staring at him and he knew how cruel kids could be as well.

Not to mention what he heard from Naruto about one Severus Snape. He wasn't sure how Naruto found out, but then again there were a lot of things Naruto knew that seemed like it should be some big secret, but he told Harry that Snape had once been good friends with his mother.

They had gone their separate ways sometime during their fifth year but the man still had feelings for her. Harry wasn't sure how the man was going to treat him because of how his father treated him in his school days.

_'Ugh, I'm not looking forward to this'_

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts when he was asked what house he wanted to be in.

"To be honest, I really don't know. I mean all the houses have their good qualities but then they also have their bad qualities. I guess we'll just have to see when we get to the school really."

They settled into a comfortable silence after that. Hermione reading one of her books, Harry had a peak in her trunk when she pulled it out. The girl was obviously destined for Ravenclaw.

Neville had also pulled out a book, one about the plants they would be studying in their Herbology class. Harry stared out of the window taking in the scenery as the sky slowly darkened.

XxXx

About another hour or two later they heard a voice saying that they were nearing the Hogsmeade station. Hermione, who already had on her robes stepped out to let the boys change into their own.

It hadn't been but five minutes later that they were heading out of the train with the rest of the students. The largest man Harry had ever seen led the first years, and Naruto himself was quite tall so saying the man was large meant something, to the lake.

It was quite big, as Harry couldn't see the other end of it from where he stood. They were instructed to have no more than four people in the small boats that were at the lakes edge. As the three of them got into the boat they were joined by a dark skinned boy who introduced himself as Blaise Zabini.

He seemed polite enough even though he glanced at Harry's forehead for a brief moment when he introduced himself. They sat in relative silence until the castle came into site.

Harry heard himself gasp along with the other first years as he took in the castle with the night sky in the background. The light illuminating from the castle giving of a warm and comforting glow seemed to calm the nerves of a great many of the nervous first years, Harry included.

As the boats reached the shore, they trudged up to the entrance hall where they were greeted by an extremely stern looking woman who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall.

She explained that they would be sorted soon and about how the houses were supposed to be like family. As she left them alone for a few minutes, Harry heard the voice of Ron Weasley behind him.

"Harry! Where'd you go? I was looking everywhere for you," he said in a rather loud tone that made Harry cringe.

He really didn't want to deal with this right now. He had managed to go the entire train ride without speaking to the boy and he really didn't want to start right now when his nerves where as frayed as they were.

Luckily he didn't have to say anything as Professor McGonagall came back to lead them into the great hall.

They met with the wondrous site of the night sky and floating candles along with the long tables that the other students were already sitting in.

Harry could hear Hermione near him telling someone that the ceiling was just bewitched to look like the night sky, but he couldn't really focus on what she was saying or what the rest of the great hall even looked like.

The only thing he could focus on was the staff table, because a very familiar blond was sitting there near the end wearing one of his goofy trademark smiles as he waved at him.

Harry tripped and fell flat on his face.

* * *

AN: What house do you want Harry to be in? I purposely stopped here because I just want to see what house the people want him in. Write a review and let me know.

R&R


	13. In Which Things Become A Bit Blue

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, zilch, not even the air... Saying this over and over can get a bit depressing, but that's okay because I have my ticket to the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows in 3D.

AN: Now I forgot to do this last time but because this person was my 300th reviewer and I liked their name so much I was going to mention them in the AN so here it is. Muffin-crumbs, this is a thank you to you and all the others who read and review for this story. I also can't forget my awesome beta! You guys are the best!

AN:Now a certain part of this chapter may seem a bit confusing when you read it and you may scream plot hole at me, but like the other things that seemed like they were plot holes, they're not. I have a very good reason for having them in the story. Just read a follow along and enjoy the ride.

AN: Oh one more thing before I forget. My other stories, I haven't forgotten about them at all, this one is just taking a bit of a priority over those. BUT! they will be updated soon.

* * *

XxXx

"Harry!"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," Harry said, as Neville and Hermione helped him up from the floor.

His face burned with embarrassment as people looked at him with odd looks on their faces. However, Harry still only had eyes for the staff table where Naruto, who was now struggling not to laugh, was sitting.

In response, Harry sent his best glare at the blond that only made him struggle to keep his laughter in even more.

As they continued to make their way towards the front of the hall, Harry finally started taking in his surroundings.

He took in all of the other students sitting underneath their house banners, he took in the wondrous ceiling that he heard Hermione babble about, and finally he took in the site of the one person he hoped he would never meet.

Albus Dumbledore, who had a rather crooked nose, a ridiculously long beard, half moon glasses, and robes containing pictures of moons and stars. He also had the oddest twinkle in his eye and gave off a rather grandfather like appearance that would have fooled even the most observant men.

Harry wasn't fooled for a second.

Not after what he knew the old man had put him through, and was planning on putting him through. He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of someone singing.

He looked around and to his surprise, and to those of the other children; a hat sitting on top of a stool was singing its heart out about the four houses.

Harry listened to the song because it was describing which house he would be in for the next seven years. The more he listened the worse he felt.

He didn't want to go to Gryffindor because he knew that's where the old man wanted to put him. Not to mention that he would be expected to be this outgoing daring person, according to the hat, and he just wasn't that sort of person.

Oh, he had plenty of bravery but he didn't want to be in the spotlight anymore than he already was. Hufflepuff really didn't sound too bad but he was anything but patient.

He knew he was hard working; he couldn't study under Naruto without working hard, so that really didn't sound too bad. Neither did Ravenclaw when he thought about it.

He loved to learn new things and he knew that he could fade into the background, as a studious loner with few friends, in Ravenclaw much better than in any of the other houses.

Slytherin, on the other hand, would be a house where he would have to constantly be on his guard from either physical attacks from the older pureblood families that followed Voldemort or psychological attacks due to the politics that he heard ran the house of snakes.

He knew some things about it but he really didn't want to deal with that kind of thing. He was only eleven for goodness sake.

He sighed as the hat stopped singing and McGonagall started calling names to be sorted. He looked around to see that both Neville and Hermione were as nervous as he felt.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Hermione's name being called. Both he and Neville sent her smiles of encouragement as she made her way to the stool.

It was a few moments after the hat was placed upon her head that it screamed out, "RAVENCLAW!" She made her down to the Raven table as the politely applauded her.

As more and more of the children were sorted Harry started becoming a bit more nervous. By now, he had an idea of how the hat was sorting the kids.

It really wasn't that hard to figure out that it was reading their minds. He wondered if the seal that Naruto put on him earlier would stop the hat from sorting him, and if it did then he knew that it would bring up unwanted questions.

Even as he became more and more nervous he still managed to clap for Neville when he was sorted into Gryffindor. How that boy was sorted into the house of the supposedly brave Harry would never know. It wasn't long before he was called up to the hat.

Whispers broke out when he walked up to the stool. As he sat down, he looked at Naruto one last time who gave him a rather encouraging thumbs up before the hat slid down over his eyes.

He was treated to the oddest sensation in his head that he had ever felt. It was as if a small spider was crawling along the surface of his brain just underneath his skull before he heard an odd whisper in his ear.

_'Well this is a bit odd, now isn't it?'_

_'Is that the hat?'_

_'Why yes, and I do have a name you know.'_

_'What's odd exactly? Oh, uh... sorry. And what is your name?'_

_'It's __Aethelred. And what's odd is that I can't really get a good read on your__ mind which means that I can't really sort you.'_

_'So you do read minds to sort us? But isn't that an extremely huge breach of privacy?'_

_'Oh I'm spelled to keep almost everything confidential. Unless there is some type of danger involved then I keep everything secret. Not even the headmaster knows what I know.'_

_Harry sighed with relief. The hat couldn't read his mind which meant that Naruto's seal was working._

_'So what do we do now?'_

_'Well since I can't read your mind I'll just get a feel of your personality. It isn't very often that I can't read someone's mind but it has happened so I just get a good feel of your inner self and then sort you.'_

_'And how do you do that?'_

_But Harry didn't receive an answer. Instead, he, like the rest of the hall sat in wait as the hat tried to find the right house for Harry._

_After what seemed like hours but was really only thirty seconds the hat spoke to Harry once again._

_'I have found your correct house and I hope you do well. Just a word of warning though, while Dumbledore may be a nice man it's the headmaster you need to be wary of.'_

_'What? But isn't-'_

"RAVENCLAW!"

Harry jumped and the hat was taken off of his head. Everyone else was apparently very startled that he was sorted into Ravenclaw and not Gryffindor, but the shock soon passed as the Ravens started clapping for their newest member.

The second he took his seat next to Hermione, she started spouting off a question a second.

"Why were you underneath the hat so long? It had to have been at least seven minutes."

"Well, it said it had to do my sorting differently for some reason, that's why it took so long."

Okay, sure, he omitted quite a bit of what actually happened during his sorting but it wasn't as if he could tell the girl everything that the hat had said. He would need to talk to Naruto at some point about this.

The sorting finished with the boy who sat in the boat with him, Blaise, being sorted into Slytherin and Dumbledore beginning his speech. It wasn't that Harry purposely tuned it out, but he really had quite a bit to think about.

He focused in just when Dumbledore started speaking about the third floor corridor. Harry just shook his head at this as other students either paled noticeably or just laughed awkwardly.

Even the staff looked a bit uncomfortable with this.

XxXx

As the meal began, Harry started to try to get to know his new housemates. Oddly enough there were more students in his own than it was other houses.

There was Hermione, Lisa Turpin, Padma Patil, Mandy Brocklehurst, and Su Li for the girls.

Michel Corner, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, Kevin Entwhistle, Stephen Cornfoot and himself for the boys.

As all of them spoke about their experiences with their accidental magic, Harry looked over towards the Gryffindor table.

Neville, it seemed, looked absolutely miserable as he sat by himself towards the end of the table. Harry knew that look well as he himself had been in that same position before.

With quick word to Hermione they both got up from their seats and made their way over the Lions table.

Luckily, there was just dessert left, something Hermione really didn't eat as a dentist daughter, and something Harry didn't want as he was already full.

The Great Hall became eerily quiet as they sat down next to Neville. Neville himself seemed to be extremely startled when he noticed two people sitting next to him, but quickly managed to get over it.

They didn't say anything, not wanting to break the odd silence in the Hall but it seemed as if they hadn't needed to in the first place.

One person who hadn't stopped eating yet released a very loud belch that seemed to echo across the entire room. This in effect managed to break the rather uncomfortable silence that everyone had settled onto as they continued to eat and gossip.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville just smiled at each other as they sat and spoke about how they thought the class would be like.

Harry had to wonder however, what class it was that Naruto would be teaching. No doubt, he would cause at least a bit of chaos with the class but he hoped that it wouldn't be too outrageous.

Harry sighed again at that thought. He seemed to be doing that a lot today.

XxXx

Soon after reluctantly singing the school song to rather ridiculous tunes, Harry and Hermione separated with Neville to join the other ravens.

They were led by the prefect, who introduced herself as Penelope Clearwater, up the stairs to the common room while taking in the sights of the moving paintings and moving staircases and the occasional ghost floating about.

When they reached the entrance to the common room, they were met with a door without a keyhole or knob, but rather a bronze eagle knocker that proceeded to ask them a riddle.

"I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?"

"This is how you gain access to the common room," Penelope explained. "If you answer the riddle correctly you gain access and if you don't you have to wait for someone else to answer correctly and let you in."

"Isn't that a bit of a security risk?" Harry asked. "I mean anyone could answer a riddle correctly and then they could just waltz into our common room whenever they wanted."

Penelope sighed.

"I know. No matter how much Professor Flitwick asks the headmaster he refuses to change it. Senile old man," she said muttering the last part under her breath.

Harry and Hermione shared a look.

"That being said," Penelope pressed on, "does anyone think they can answer the riddle?"

It was a moment as they all murmured aloud until Hermione asked to hear it again.

"I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?"

"Oh! I know it!" Hermione said excitedly a moment later. "The letter E!"

There was a small round of applause as the door opened leading to the common room, giving Hermione a very strong blush.

They were led into a wide, circular room with a midnight blue carpet, arched windows hung with soft blue silks, and a domed ceiling painted with stars.

The room was furnished with tables, chairs, and bookcases; and by the door leading up to what Harry assumed were the dormitories, there was a tall statue made of white marble.

"This is one of the more airy rooms within Hogwarts," Penelope explained. "During the day we have a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains and over there is a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw. This also happens to be one of the tallest towers in Hogwarts.

"Now, Professor Flitwick will be speaking with you all tomorrow morning at 7:30. I suggest you don't be late if you want to find your way around the school and know what to expect. When going into the dormitories you'll find two passageways behind the door.

"The passage on the left is for the girls and on the right is the boys. It's 9:30 so lights out in another thirty minutes for you first years. Oh, and you'll find all of your things next to your beds. Any questions you may have can be answered by the professor tomorrow morning. Goodnight you lot."

With that rather abrupt speech, Penelope left the rather stunned first years to collapse on one of the couches falling into a deep sleep within seconds.

"Well," Harry said in a rather flat tone, "she must've been tired."

He received hesitant nods at this. Soon after getting over their small shock, the first years spread out among the other students in the common room taking in the sights of the night sky from the nearby windows.

Harry and Hermione sat in a rather secluded part of the room near a bookshelf, Hermione jumping excitedly over the books and Harry just absorbing the rather calm atmosphere in the room.

So far, aside from the initial glances, no one here had really made too big a fuss about him, something he was extremely happy for.

He tuned into Hermiones ramblings just in time to hear her talking about the rather advanced spell books they had. Gaining much more of an interest, he himself picked up one of the books and leafed through it.

The book entitled _The Ba__sics_ contained the more basic spells that they would be learning over the course of the year such as _Alohomora, Evanesco, Lumos, _and a few others.

Hermione, seeing that Harry was preoccupied with his own book, decided to choose her own and the pair sat down on the couch nearby for the next twenty minutes.

When they saw that it was almost time for them to go to bed they both said goodnight and headed to their respective dormitories.

When Harry reached his, he saw that the other boys in his year were already asleep. Finding his bed next to one of the many windows, Harry quickly put on his pajamas and went to sleep hoping that the next day would be a good one.

He would be sorely disappointed.

XxXx

Elsewhere in the castle, a certain blond was preparing for his first class the next day.

He chuckled to himself as he went about organizing the room. There'd be no sleeping in this class, even if that's all the last teacher let the students do.

He was determined to make this class fun while also educational, and once he set his mind towards something he was going to achieve it.

He was just thinking about his messy haired apprentice when he heard two familiar poofs behind him.

"Fukasaku, Shima it's been a while. What's up?" he asked.

"We have some good news Naru-chan," Fukasaku said with a wide smile on his face.

"And what's that?"

"The demonic aura that surrounded the elemental countries has begun to dissipate. I'd say within a few months new life should start growing there again. That's not all. It seems that not everyone was killed by the wave of demonic energy. There were survivors."

Naruto stilled before a huge grin broke out on his face.

"Who was it? Who survived?"

"A quite a few people from Iron Country survived. I'm not sure how, but they're there."

So there were people still left. He hadn't failed after all, at least, not entirely. The toads noticed the tears that slowly ran down his face and gave him time to compose himself before speaking again.

"So Naru-chan tell us what's been happening here so far? And how is little Harry-chan?"

Naruto grinned before speaking about everything they had been up to since he had last seen the toads.

They spoke well into the night before leaving with the promise of being back the next morning.

Naruto went to sleep with a large smile on his face that night, with the thought that things were going to go well in the morning.

* * *

Ravenclaw Riddle of the Day: **I know a word of letters three. Add two, and fewer there will be... ** Are you smart enough to answer the riddle? Review and find out!

AN: We get to the more interesting things like classes in the next chapter along with more things and surprises! Look forward to it! Don't forget to R&R

By the way did anyone know that the sorting hat name I chose actually means Noble Counsel?


	14. In Which Naruto Is Sensei

Disclaimer: I don't own anything because if I did, that movie ending would've gone just a bit differently. DID ANYONE SEE TEDDY? CAUSE I DIDN'T!

AN: Okay so new chapter, much longer than the others so far. My other stories, if you read them, they will be updated soon. I'm in the process of writing them out along with a new story that has been trapped within my head for the past month. Just a hint. It's a Sailor Moon Harry Crossover.

AN 2: The answer to the riddle from last week was the word "Few". Many of you got it right! Hopefully this chapter will answer a few questions that some of you may have had. Plot holes my butt. Enjoy!

* * *

XxXx

As the new day broke, Harry was the first boy in his dorm to wake. And being the first to wake had its benefits. Such as, having the restroom all to himself and giving him more than enough time to properly wake up. He made his way down to the common room; his dorm mates still fast asleep, to meet the other early risers of the house.

Many were older students who were getting ready for the long school year, and others were just first years, nervous about their classes. Hermione was one of them. He joined her after picking up one of the many books nearby while they waited for professor Flitwick to show up.

Within the span of the next thirty minutes, the rest of the first years trickled down to the common room. When the last of them showed up professor Flitwick chose that moment to appear out of nowhere startling all of them except for Harry. Spending as much time with Naruto as he had, Harry really was used to this type of thing by now.

"Good Morning students and welcome to Ravenclaw. Now I'm sure you all have some questions and I will answer them as soon as I get done speaking. Now listen up," he said in an excited squeak.

Harry could easily see that he would enjoy having this man as a teacher and head of house if this introduction was any indication. Naruto always said that he was a good judge of character.

"First things first. I shall explain the grading system to you. The highest grade you can receive here is an O for Outstanding. Next is an E for Exceeds Expectations, A for Acceptable, P for Poor and a T for Troll which is the worst grade you can get as it constitutes as a failure. As members of the Ravenclaw house, you will be expected to have a grade average of at least an Exceed Expectations throughout the year.

"That is not to say that you can't have lower grades such as an Acceptable or Poor every now and then. However, if you get these grades consistently or if you receive too many P's or T's then you will have to consent to tutoring in the area in which you are having trouble until your grades are up to snuff."

It was an easy grading system, Harry thought to himself, and an easy enough way to keep your grades up as well.

"Now as to navigating throughout the castle Ravenclaw house provides maps for each of you so you won't get lost on your way to classes or to the great hall and so on. Other houses don't do this for their students because they rely on the older students to show the younger students around. It works fine for Hufflepuff and Slytherin but for some reason those in Gryffindor seem to have a problem doing this, so they are generally late for their classes on the first day.

"The reason Ravenclaw house provides these maps is because some of the older students become a bit… preoccupied as you can see," he pointed to one of the older students so absorbed in what it was they were reading that they ended up walking into the wall on their way towards the door. Seemingly un-phased he just continued out of the door and down the stairs. "We tend to be a bit unaware of our surroundings some of the time. That was just one example of what I was speaking about."

Harry and the others stared on with their mouths agape at the casual attitude that the professor seemed to have about that. Apparently, it happened enough that everyone had just grown used to it. Harry honestly found it a bit funny after he thought about it a bit.

"Yes, well, continuing, as members of the house you are to treat others as you would want to be treated and to use all forms of logic and knowledge to your advantage. As to the point system, its rather simple.

"You get points for doing well and you lose points for misbehaving or anything of the like. At the end of the year, the house with the most house points wins the house cup. Curfew for you first years is 9:30 except for Wednesday when you have Astronomy at midnight. Oh, speaking of, here is your schedules. Because you all have the same classes I would advise you to travel together while going to classes."

As the schedules were passed around, the professor gave them a chance to look at their classes before speaking again.

Timetable

Monday

Potions (first period)

Defense Against the Dark Arts (second period)

Lunch

History (third period)

Tuesday

Charms (first period)

Wednesday

Potions (first period)

Herbology (second period)

Lunch

Astronomy (midnight)

Thursday

Charms (first period)

Transfiguration (second period)

Lunch

Flying (3:30 pm)

Friday

Double Potions (first period)

Lunch

"As you can see," he continued, "you have many opportunities to study and get your school work done as you have enough free time. It still surprises us that with the amount of time we give the younger students that some of them don't use it correctly. Because you're in a new environment learning so many new things you need enough time to assimilate it all. You get less free time as the school years go on but it's a gradual process."

He gave them a moment to comprehend what he was saying before asking if anyone had any questions. There were many from Hermione, which Harry expected from her. So many that only a few others even had questions left that hadn't already been answered.

It wasn't long before the professor led them down to the great hall where they noticed the other tables were slowly filling up.

Harry spied Neville sitting by himself once again, although this time it was because there was hardly anyone at the Gryffindor table.

"Neville, do you want to come sit with us?" Harry said after making his way towards the lions table.

"Sure, Harry," Neville said with a slightly shy smile on his face. They made their way back towards the table of the Ravens where Hermione was sitting studying her schedule.

She gave them a smile when she noticed they were there and started asking Neville how he made his way down to the great hall without getting lost.

"Well, I got up early just for that reason but I still ended up getting turned around. It was about the point where I was getting ready to go back up the stairs that one of the portraits gave me directions to the great hall. Turns out I had just missed it," he explained.

They talked for a while afterward, looking over the schedules, Neville having come early had already gotten his from McGonagall. Turns out, they had DADA, Charms, and Transfiguration with each other along with Astronomy, which all the first years had together.

While they were absorbed into their conversation, the rest of the great hall filled up quickly. It was then that they were rather acutely aware of one Ron Weasley He was one table over from them, stuffing his face at a rather sickening pace, as though it was the first time he had ever eaten.

Everyone in the near vicinity quickly lost whatever appetite they had and left early to their first period class, Harry, Hermione, and Neville included. As they left, Harry couldn't help but notice that Naruto wasn't at the staff table.

XxXx

They split their separate ways, Neville going up the stairs and the pair of them heading towards the dungeons where they would be taking their first potions lesson.

It was at this time that Harry had the foresight to warn Hermione of the impending lesson.

Unfortunately, she simply scoffed at the idea that a teacher really could be as bad as Harry had described thanks to her complete belief that authority figures were to be respected.

Harry could only shake his head at her naivety.

She would see soon enough.

They were only waiting a few minutes before the rest of the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs showed up. It wasn't even a minute later that the door opened allowing them inside and a voice barked at them to come in.

Inside, there was a tall pale man, in all black wearing a rather distinguishing sneer on his face with what seemed like greasy hair was the one barking at them to take a seat. The classroom, which was just a dungeon, was cold and creepy, an effect that was made much more prominent by the lack of lighting and the jars filled with who knows what along the walls.

Quickly shuffling inside, Harry and Hermione had taken a seat next to each other near the front of the room. The look he gave Harry when he took his seat made it feel as though someone had walked on his grave, and decided to blow it up.

_'This isn't going to be good' _Harry thought.

XxXx

Harry soon found out how right he was and couldn't be more thankful for Naruto's warnings.

The class started off with Snape taking roll call pausing at Harry's name, saying it with a rather alarming amount of venom and hate that it shook everyone to the core.

After he finished with roll call he swept across the room speaking in a rather soft, but powerful voice that kept everyone's attention, about how intricate the art of potion making was and how he didn't expect much from the bunch of dunderheads that they were.

Although none of them said anything, the fact that he called the students from Ravenclaw a bunch of dunderheads clearly rubbed each and every one of them the wrong way, Harry included. The Hufflepuffs were just insulted on principle.

He took a quick glance at Hermione, whose face held a rather interesting expression. It looked like she wanted to argue with the teacher on the fact that she was no dunderhead, but her instilled respect for authority figures was clearly putting up quite the fight.

Harry was shaken out of his thoughts by the sharp sound of the professors voice questioning him on the properties of belladonna, one of the ingredients found in their potions kit. Even though he saw Hermiones hand shoot into the air he answered the question well enough, giving information about the plants properties and some of its various uses.

If there was one thing he knew about it would be plants, from the time that he spent in his Aunt Petunias garden when he was younger and even after when he started his own little garden.

It seemed that it was a bit of a surprise to the professor that he answered it correctly if the single raised eyebrow was anything to go by.

During the next ten minutes in what could be called rapid fire the professor questioned not only him but the other students as well.

When someone didn't know the answer, took too long to answer, or answer incorrectly they were humiliated, insulted, and belittled to the point of tears. It had only been twenty minutes and they still had a potion to complete.

As the class went on and they began the potion, it only got worse.

From Snape hovering, to Snape yelling insult after insult and taking house points like candy, everyone was on edge. When one of the Hufflepuffs ruined their potion by not taking it off of the fire before putting in the porcupine quills causing their cauldron to melt no one moved.

No one spoke.

Five minutes later the class was over and they were running out of the room, half of them in tears and all of them at least twenty house points lighter. Harry turned to Hermione who was extremely pale in the face catching her eye.

"Don't say it. Don't even say it," she said quietly.

All Harry did was sigh and shake his head before heading towards their next class with one thought on his mind.

_'How the hell are we going to be able to deal with that for the next seven years?'_

XxXx

The next class they had, Defense Against The Dark Arts, was considerably better for their frazzled nerves, but was horrible in the fact that they couldn't understand a damn thing the man was saying.

Their professor, Quirrell, stuttered through the entire lesson not really saying anything and not even teaching them a spell to make up for it.

Although in retrospect that might have been a good thing, seeing as though they would probably botch the spell causing some type of disaster of epic proportions. Then again, that may have just been Harry's imagination running wild.

It was a bit more bearable seeing as they had this class with the Gryffindors meaning that Neville was in the class with them. Harry, however, was starting to become a bit worried about Hermione.

It seemed that her unshakeable faith in teachers and authority figures had taken two very large hits today. Between Snape and Quirrell's teaching methods, it wouldn't surprise him if she just snapped and started shooting off machine guns at all authority figures she could find.

Wow, he needed to get out of this room; the smell really was getting to him. The small headache he had probably didn't help matters.

XxXx

It was during lunch that things seemed to pick up a bit.

Harry and Hermione were both sitting at the Gryffindor table with Neville when they overheard one of the older students talking about the new history teacher.

In Harry's mind it occurred to him that it could only be Naruto and from listening to the students raving about his class, it could only be a positive thing.

Harry knew that a ghost who could easily put almost anyone to sleep with his teachings had previously taught the class. Harry, of course, didn't say anything about it seeing as though one of her perceptions of reality had been shattered into a million pieces today already.

The poor girl really had been through enough for the day.

Instead, he spoke to Neville, who had Transfiguration today while they had Potions.

"Neville, I have to ask, just so that I can be prepared, how was the Transfiguration class?" he asked.

Even though he already knew about McGonagall, he knew almost nothing of her teaching method.

That and he hoped to cheer Hermione back up a bit.

"Oh! It was nice. Although the professor can be a bit strict, she really knew her stuff. Turned her pig into a desk and back again at the beginning of class."

Hermione instantly perked up and started asking for every detail of the class.

"We-well," Neville said a bit startled at her exuberance, "She talked about the dangers of Transfiguration and gave a bit of a lecture before instructing us to turn a matchstick into a needle. It sounds easy at first but it was actually harder than everyone thought it would be. No one could get it all the way although Seamus, that's him down there, managed to make his explode."

They all shared a laugh at that. They were interrupted by a group of Gryffindor first years shushing them as they listened to the two red haired twins talking about the new history teacher. Seeing as all the first years were in the same class for history, they all decided to listen in.

In so many words, without really giving anything away, the twins talked about how the new teacher was so much better than the last one.

How he literally made history come alive and that they couldn't wait for the next class. For the people who hadn't had the class yet but knew the twins well, this came as quite a bit of a shock to them as they knew the twins would rather be planning pranks instead of being in class.

If they, the twins, were excited about a class then they knew it had to be good. One thought that ran through most of the girls minds was the fact that if it was the blond they saw last night then even if the lesson was terrible, there would still be a reason to pay attention to the teacher.

Somewhere in another part of the castle, a tall blond shuddered in fear for some unknown reason.

XxXx

When Harry, Hermione, Neville and the other first years walked into the history classroom they were met by a rather strange site.

Although the room itself was out of the ordinary, a large crystal globe of the earth floating near the end of the room just behind the desk, and the large ceiling had a diamond shape in the middle of what seemed to be spiral patterns originating from the diamond in the center.

But, it was what was on the teachers desk that had the class wondering what type of history lesson this was going to be like. Two toads that Harry instantly recognized as Fukasaku and Shima were sitting on either side of the desk while Naruto sat in between them at the front of the desk wearing a rather laid-back expression on his face.

He seemed to take in the first years facial expressions in stride as he waved them in and told them to find a seat. Sitting next to Neville and Hermione once again with the rest of the class scattered about in the empty chairs, Harry focused all of his attention on what Naruto was going to say.

He was nearly bursting with anticipation as he tried to think of what the man was going to be teaching them.

"Hello class," he began. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, but you may call me Professor Uzumaki, Professor Naruto, Professor, or even sensei. They all mean the same thing and they all show the respect that you give to a teacher.

"As of now I will be your history of magic teacher for the remainder of the rest of your school years here and I hope to impart within you, the knowledge of the past so that you can make a better future."

The class, from the moment he began speaking, was enraptured. Harry himself was extremely surprised at how Naruto was acting. It was completely different from how he usually was- you know the goofy, full of energy, always making people laugh, Naruto.

Here he was serious but with a very friendly aspect thrown into the mix. He didn't speak too loudly or too softly, and made eye contact with each and every one of them.

"In the past," Naruto began, "this class has been taught by a ghost. I know, it sounds like it would be nice to be taught by a ghost but believe me, your much better off without him. He had the uncanny ability to put almost anyone to sleep while speaking of nothing except for goblin rebellions, never learning anyone's name. It was honestly a wonder that anyone ever passed the class at all when you think about it."

Harry gave a slight smirk as he heard Hermione sigh with relief that she would not have to deal with another teacher with teaching- er… issues.

"Now, seeing as this is our first history lesson I'll be doing something special for all of you. The toads here Fukasaku," he pointed to the toad on his left, "and Shima," he pointed to the one on his right, "will be helping me today."

One student in particular, who had a very large mouth and not a whole lot of common sense, spoke out at this.

"What can they do? They're just frogs!"

Every head turned to where the voice had come from and they were met with the sight of one Draco Malfoy wearing a rather large self satisfying smirk on his face.

That was until Fukasaku jumped from his perch on Naruto's desk, landing right in front of Draco, before sticking his finger in the boys face.

"Call me a frog again and I'll make sure you regret it you brat. I'm a toad."

Draco, along with everyone except for Harry was shocked into silence as they listened to the fro- uh, toad lecture Draco about having respect for a teacher and the difference between frogs and toads. It seemed to be a very touchy subject for him.

"Alright Pa," the other toad, Shima spoke. "I think he gets it now."

Fukasaku simply nodded, whacked Draco on the head with a small black stick, and jumping back to the front desk were Naruto seemed to be fighting back laughter at the looks on many of the first years faces.

"As you can see, they aren't ordinary toads. And I'll thank you not to speak out of turn again Mr. Malfoy," he said his voice turning menacing as he focused more on the still shocked boy. "Next time I'll be taking points from your house, understand?" He received a shaky nod in turn.

He turned his attention back to the class with a smile on his face, silencing the many whispers going on throughout the classroom.

"What's about to happen is a small history lesson on how the world came to be, how humans came into existence, and the eventual discovery of magic. I would like all of you to stand up now. The experience can be quiet unsettling at first."

Confused by the instructions, the first years slowly stood up while Naruto went around to the back of the desk near the crystal globe.

It was then that they noticed the two toads with their hands pressed together as if they were praying while their eyes were closed. That's when they started glowing.

Everyone either gasped or took a step back when they noticed and quickly looked to Naruto only to see his hands moving so quickly they appeared to be nothing more than a blur. The globe behind him also started to glow lightly and then the room started to disappear.

The children huddled together as they seemed to be floating in nothing but darkness, until they saw Naruto reappear in front of them.

"This is what they earth looked like many, many years ago."

"But there's nothing here," Hermione squeaked out while holding on tightly to Neville and Harry.

Naruto simply smiled.

"Exactly."

With a snap of his fingers lights started to appear everywhere. Behind them, in front, below, everywhere they looked they saw different things zooming by while the darkness was lit by the many bright dots surrounding them.

"Now, can anyone tell me what's going on here?" Naruto said. "Tell me what it is that you see."

It was a moment before anyone answered.

"This is the beginning of the universe, isn't it?" Harry said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at him as though he was insane. That was until Naruto nodded.

"Yes, you're absolutely correct. Ten points to Ravenclaw. It is near the beginning of the universe. I couldn't very well show you the very beginning because it might have been too bright for you. Even now though you should start seeing planets and stars forming."

What he said was true. Now that they thought about it, there seemed to be more things showing up by the second. They saw the stars forming, planets that they hadn't even known about forming. Then they saw the very Earth forming before their eyes.

"Sir," Terry Boot asked breathlessly, "How are you doing this? How is this possible?"

He chuckled.

"That would be my little secret. Lets jump to when man first began to emerge on the planet, shall we?"

In what was a very disorienting experience, where more than one person fell or stumbled, they flew towards the Earth at breakneck speeds where they found themselves looking at a rather dense forest full of all types of plants and creatures not seen in centuries.

All types of pre-historical creatures roamed about, from pterodactyls to tyrannosaurus, they were all there. The students couldn't contain themselves as they spoke with their friends about this thing or that. Harry, who was watching a pair of dinosaur eggs hatching, heard Hermione speaking softly behind him.

"This is incredible. If there was any doubt about me making the choice to come here and learn magic then it's completely gone by now."

Harry could only nod his head in agreement. He wasn't exactly sure how Naruto had done it, more than likely some type of Genjutsu used in tandem with toads, but he had really outdone himself this time.

He turned to see Neville and a young red haired girl from Hufflepuff looking at some of the floral nearby . They walked over and joined them where the girl introduced herself as Susan Bones. They didn't really get to talk much after that seeing as how Naruto had called them all back over.

"Now here," he pointed to a small shrub, "is where we'll see the first human ever to walk on this land emerging."

It was only a few seconds before they saw a small, hunched and rather ugly looking naked man crawling out of the shrubs. It would've been a bit inappropriate if not for the fact that the image of the man's private parts were blurred out.

To Harry, he honestly wasn't much to look at, but he supposed that it was the fact that they had come so far from this to what they were today that made the difference. They didn't watch him for long before they were again treated to the disorienting sensation of zooming forward through the images before they finally stopped at two cavemen fighting each other.

It was brutal and savage and made some of the wince at the brutality of it all.

"And this class is the first instance of man using magic. I want you to watch very carefully at this."

All of them were watching with rapt attention as they basically pummeled each other before they noticed something odd. It was actually Blaise Zabini, the Slytherin they rode in the boat with them, that pointed it out.

The club that one of the cavemen was using seemed to be getting larger in size as the fight went on until it grew to a rather ridiculously large size, but still seemed to be light enough to swing around.

"Yes, ten points to Slytherin. Now as you can see, while he's not consciously doing it, he's enlarging his weapon while using what is now known as a featherlight charm making it easy enough to wield."

The scene flashed once again and they were back in the classroom, the toads and the globe no longer glowing. As they all took their seats once again, none of them could stop the feelings of excitement from running wild through them from their experience.

"Now, any questions?"

XxXx

Thirty minutes later, a rather talkative group of first years left through the door, still buzzing over their history of magic class.

Hermione herself seemed to be exuding an aura of pure happiness at the fact that their history teacher could actually make history come alive. They all laughed when they heard Neville mutter, "Toads are the best. I'm so glad I got Trevor instead of an owl now."

As they were heading out of the door, they noticed Harry linger behind.

"Harry, aren't you coming?"

"No, I want to ask the professor a few more questions about something. You guys go on ahead and I'll meet you later."

Hermione bit her lip before speaking.

"Okay, well we'll be in the library working on our homework okay?"

He nodded towards them and sent a small smile as they left. After making sure the door was closed, Harry turned back to face Naruto where he was bombarded with hugs from Shima.

"Harry-chan it's so good to see you again. You've gotten so big!" she gushed.

He blushed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. She let him go and after a brief hug with Fukasaku he turned to Naruto who had a large grin on his face. One that Harry could feel starting to form on his own face.

"So my young student," Naruto said, "how did I do?"

"How did you do? That had to have been one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!" Harry said as he noticed a light blush on Naruto's face.

"Thanks kid," he said. "So, how's everything going so far?"

Harry sighed before taking a seat and giving him a bit of a rundown of what his day had been like so far.

"Oh, there's something else. While I was being sorted the hat told me something that really confused me."

"What did it say," he said quietly, the toads listening in intently.

"He said that 'While Dumbledore many be a nice man, it's the Headmaster you need to be wary of.' What could that possibly mean," he said in a very low tone.

Naruto was quiet for a moment before Fukasaku spoke.

"There's quite a number of things that could mean, but I think the most likely is that the Headmaster is not Albus Dumbledore."

"I was just thinking that myself," Naruto said.

"But, if that's true, then why didn't you realize that when you read his mind?" Harry asked.

Naruto sighed heavily while rubbing his hand across his face.

"The thing about that, which you have to understand, is that while I may have gone through his mind, it wasn't as clear cut as I may have made it out to be."

"What do you mean?"

"While I was there, everything was a jumbled mess of random thoughts. I just happened to get lucky enough to find out all the information pertaining to you that I did. I could've easily missed something he was trying to keep buried within the recesses of his mind."

"But then, if that's not the real Dumbledore, then who is he?"

"That's what I want to know. I also want to know what happened to the real Dumbledore."

* * *

Ravenclaw Riddle of the Day

You saw me where I never was and where I could not be. And yet within that very place, my face you often see. What am I?

R&R


	15. In Which There Is Suspicion and Desire

Disclaimer: well seeing as I am now suffering from PPDS (Post Potter Depression Syndrome) I seriously doubt that I own the series or anything related to the series.

AN: I would just like to say that if anyone was offended from the lesson that I had Naruto give the students in the last chapter then I do apologize for it. The fact that you were offended, not the lesson itself. While I won't say my beliefs on the subject, that's what I was taught in school so that's what I used for the chapter. Again sorry if you were offended.

AN2: The answer to the riddle was reflection. Congrats to all those who got it right!

AN3: Big time skips in this chapter, but nothing big really happens in this part of the story. Just some important character development. Sorry if you wanted more details on their classes, but for the life of me, I just can't do it because it's just done to death. We generally know what happens in the classes so I'm going to be skipping over it for the most part in this chapter.

AN4: I normally don't do this, but this persons review really just irritated the hell out of me so I'm going to put them on blast for a moment. If you want to skip over this then skip down to where the X's are. Here's what they said.

_"first hit - you've made Dumbledore evil. It is a personal preference, but I have yet to read a truly good story where he is the 'ultimate evildoer'._

_second hit - you've made him into an omnipotent being, with seemingly limitless amount of political influence, which simply isn't true. Heck, he could only slow ministry's efforts down in books_

_third, most important hit - you just made Dumbledore the arch-nemesis and single most influential person on a planet, which is far worse from Danzo and probably eat puppies for breakfast. Then Naruto knocked him out. Then.. he let him go, instead of simply killing him - you're an idiot._

_There are some other unbelievable matters, as how can Harry, whose legal guardians just been taken, simply stay with Naruto as if he was family etc, but I do not intent to waste my time explaining it to you. _

_Simply put, you're either ignorant, do not proofread in the slightest nor even THINK when you write this. You, sir, are a tool."_

I will now respond in the following manner:

First: If you had bothered to read past the fourth chapter you would find out whether or not Dumbledore was truly evil.

Second: I've never said he was omnipotent or all knowing. He just has some serious connections and has his hand in quite a few things that effect quite a bit.

Third: There was a reason stated that he was let go. Actually there was more than one reason that he was let go that I don't want anyone to know yet besides the fact that if he wasn't let go, there wouldn't really be much of a story the way I have it planned. As to the other matter you stated, that was also addressed in the story so to you, who speak about being ignorant, proofreading, and not thinking, I say this. Either don't say anything about things where you don't know the entire situation or just leave the story if you don't like it. There's an X in the corner of the screen for a reason.

There's my rant. I have nothing else to say to you.

* * *

XxXx

It had been a few months since Harry had spoken with Naruto about what the sorting hat had told him, and in that time, many things had happened.

After their first history class they had made friends with Susan Bones and after getting to know her a little, she gave them a new perspective on how things were run in the wizarding world. Being born into an older pureblood family while also having an aunt as head of the DMLE gave her a rather insightful view of how things were run in their world.

To say that things weren't as good as they appeared would be an understatement. While Harry, who had studied some of the government and pureblood etiquette, he was better prepared for what it was that she told them after they had gotten to know each other a little better.

The laws of the wizarding world were, to put it in simple terms, a horrible mess of corrupted legislature. Almost all of the laws contradicted a different law and they were extremely biased against anyone who wasn't a pureblood male wizard.

Muggles, muggleborns, half bloods, women, non-humans, you name it, there was some type of law that discriminated against them, and most of them were ridiculous. The worst thing was that these types of laws were passed at least twice a month, making things worse.

Susan told them this and more with a rather solemn face. How betrothal contracts were not uncommon, and how some boys felt it was their right to own women. Harry and Hermione, with pale faces just looked at Neville for conformation. He just simply turned away.

Five minutes later Harry was holding Hermiones hair as she vomited in the girl's toilet. Harry had to admit he was close to doing the same.

XxXx

During their first flying class they had it with all of the other first years, Neville somehow managed to break his wrist after his broom had gone completely out of control, but luckily Madame Pomfrey, the school medi witch, was able to fix what happened in five minutes.

No, it was what happened after the professor, Hooch, had left them alone. With no other teacher there to watch a bunch of eleven-year-old children who just so happened to have magical brooms that could fly.

_Flashback_

_Harry, Hermione, and one Susan Bones watched as Neville was taken to the hospital wing. Susan had joined their little group after their introduction in history class, and as it turned out, she fit in well with the small group._

_She still had her friends in Hufflepuff she frequently hung out with but she spent quite a bit of time with the three of them. They couldn't help but feel bad for Neville who they thought really needed a bit of a confidence boost. This couldn't have helped matters in the least._

_At the sound of laughter, they turned to see a narrow faced blond they had come to associate with the name Draco Malfoy._

"_Did you see his face?" he said to Crabbe as he picked something off the ground. "Maybe if he had given this a squeeze, he would've remembered to fall on his fat ass."_

_As Ron Weasley, walked over to Malfoy in what would be another confrontation, Harry recognized the item in his hand. It was the remembrall that Neville had shown them earlier that day._

_It was a small glass ball with gray smoke that would turn red when the holder had forgotten something. The only problem with the thing was that it wouldn't tell you what it was that you forgot in the first place._

_It was, however, a nice present from his grandmother and Harry knew that he would be even further devastated if something happened to it. As Ron and Draco argued, Harry quickly made his way over towards the group from the back after motioning for the two girls to stay where they were._

_Heading towards Draco, he quickly snatched the remembrall from his hand just as he took off in the air. Draco didn't notice it was gone until he was already quite a few feet off of the ground, but when he did, everyone saw his face go red._

_He looked around before spotting Harry heading back towards Susan and Hermione with the remembrall in his hand._

"_Crabbe, Goyle," he shouted, "Get Potter!"_

_Harry turned at the sound of his name only to see both Crabbe and Goyle advancing upon him with what they thought was a menacing look on their faces. Now Naruto had taught Harry how to defend himself with more than just flashy techniques._

_He taught him that sometimes, the best solutions were the most simple ones. As they neared him, he heard Hermione call out to him as the crowd pushed both she and Susan, whose face was pale, back so they couldn't help._

_He turned just in time to see Crabbe launching a punch at his face._

_He used an open palm to redirect it towards Goyle, who was trying to grab him from behind, where it connected solidly with his nose, knocking him flat on his back. Crabbe, seeing that he had hit his own house member, charged at Harry in a blind rage._

_Harry simply spun out of the way and, with a slight push, left Crabbe falling on his face into the ground. By this time, the crowd, who had been eerily silent, started cheering uproariously for Harry. Draco was seeing red by this point._

_His two guards were losing to Potter who, in his mind, was beneath all purebloods for what he had done to the dark lord and for having dirty blood. Seeing Harry with his back turned, he took out his wand and launched the first spell that came to mind._

_Harry turned as the crowed started to shout at him to watch out to see a sickly orange colored spell coming his way. He jumped to the side just in time for the spell to miss him and hit Crabbe, who was just now standing, right in the face._

_Everyone paused and looked in shock as Crabbe started to grow purple tentacles from his face, and hands. Then they started coming out of his sleeves and pants, which meant that they were growing all over his body._

_They all watched in horrid fascination as this took place. The only thing that came to Harry's mind was a train wreck. An absolute train wreck where nothing good happened and things only got worse. They were shaken out of their silence by the sound of professor McGonagall's voice._

"_What in the name of Merlin is going on here?" she said in a furious voice. "Mr. Malfoy you get off that broom this instant! Someone take misters Crabbe and Goyle to the hospital wing."_

_Two Slytherin students quickly grabbed the tentacle-faced boy and the other who was holding a heavily bleeding nose and dragged them up to the castle. Harry's mind was literally blank at this point._

_Even as Hermione and Susan had showed up next to him, he couldn't think of anything but what had just happened. The professor rounded on the students asking them to explain what had happened. This was, apparently the wrong thing to say as all the students started yelling their version of the story._

_They were quickly silenced by a look, before they were asked to speak calmly. She eventually got the story out of them and, with a sharp request, had Harry following her as she pulled Draco by his robes into the dungeons._

_Opening the door to what Harry knew was Snapes office, he was told to wait in the hall while she spoke with Snape. Still dragging the other by the robes she closed the door behind her. Harry wasn't waiting five minutes before she came out alone and led him up to where he knew professor Flitwicks office was._

_'Crap' Harry thought, 'how do I go about explaining this?'_

"_Filius, may I have a moment of your time?"_

_He looked up from where he was grading his papers with a rather cheerful smile on his face._

"_Of course Minerva," he said. "What can I do for you?"_

"_Mister Potter here was in a bit of an altercation earlier and since you are his head of house I thought you would want to deal with it."_

"_Of course, of course. Well, come sit Harry," he said and with a swish of his wand two chairs appeared. "Do you wish to stay Minerva?"_

"_Of course. I wish to hear about this from his point of view myself."_

_Harry took a seat after her, took a deep breath, and began telling his side of the story. How he was trying to get back Neville's remembrall, how he was jumped by Crabbe and Goyle, how he didn't even touch them, and how Malfoy launched a spell at his back that hit Crabbe in the face. In the end, he hadn't received any punishment since he hadn't done anything wrong, but he was asked a rather odd question after professor McGonagall left._

"_Harry, what do you know of magical dueling?"_

_End Flashback_

After his little scare in History class the boy, who they figured was already arrogant, was on a rampage, so this whole little thing didn't really surprise people much.

He spewed as many insults as possible to everyone and anything in his sight. He usually managed to keep his mouth shut around teachers and older students but other than that he and his goons would -with a creepy sense of joy- terrorize all the other muggleborns and halfbloods in their year.

He also took the time to insult the Weasley family as much as he could within their hearing range. How they were poor, how they were blood traitors, and how they would get what was coming to them.

Ron, the second youngest of the family, as Harry had recently found out, always lost his temper whenever Draco would spout off these insults and almost always would get caught retaliating by Professor Snape.

Snape hadn't made the situation any better though.

It seemed as though, after the whole flying class debacle, Snape was specifically targeting Harry for each and every excuse he could come up with. Breathing too loudly, looking at the table wrong, messing with other students potions, and so on until Harry was sure that the man spent half the night coming up with insults.

The house points in Ravenclaw suffered severely as a result. They had gone from fifty points in the lead to one hundred points behind the other houses in one week.

They eventually called a house meeting to find out why this was happening but when they discovered the reason why, they quickly lost whatever hope of winning the house cup that they had.

Even though they had Flitwick talk to the headmaster, he hadn't done anything to stop Snape's blatant abuse of the house point system.

Speaking of the Charms master, he had taken Harry under his wing so to speak. Every Friday evening, he and Harry would converse over tea about small things, like how class was going and such. Then they would discuss the subject of dueling.

Flitwick had told him that they would wait until the second term at the earliest, after the holidays to start any magical training, but until then they discussed different spells and how to use them effectively as well as countering them.

When they had first started Harry worried about favoritism that is until Flitwick explained that he did this with other students that looked to have a talent in dueling or exceedingly skilled in charms. This led to a discussion on how he tutored Harry's mother and helped her become a charms mistress.

Out of all the things they discussed, this had to have been the one that Harry enjoyed the most.

Defense class had to be a joke. Outside of the classroom, Harry seemed to be a natural at the subject but once inside it was a different story.

Between Quirrell's stuttering and the extreme headaches that seemed to be centered around his scar, it was always hard to pay attention and actually learn something in that room. Not to mention the constant smell of garlic didn't help much.

It had gotten so bad that Harry needed to have Hermione tutor him on what they went over in class. He wasn't the only one though.

Many of the other students had trouble in that classroom too. Harry and Hermione overheard the OWL and NEWT students complaining and freaking out about it in the common room many times. Again, Dumbledore did nothing but twinkle his eyes.

Some of the Slytherins, Harry had noticed, for some reason had been seen in the company of Naruto quite frequently. The younger students were often seen in his company and while they were much more discreet about it, Harry did notice the older students around him as well. Harry didn't really know what it was that they were speaking about, but as long as they weren't causing trouble then he wasn't complaining.

Speaking of Naruto, while they hadn't really had too much of a chance to speak as much as they would've liked, Harry did talk to Naruto about all of this.

His classes had been going well. From Transfiguration to Charms, he was in the top five in his year. Something that made him smile every time he thought about it. Not just because of the fact that he was proud of himself, but because Naruto had also stated how proud of him he was and too keep up the good work.

But between Quirrell, Malfoy, Snape, and Dumbledore, Harry felt like he would end up exploding on one of them any day. Seeing how stressed the boy was, Naruto decided to take matters into his own hands, which, to Harry, basically meant that something big was going to happen.

He suddenly had the urge to run far, far away from Hogwarts when he saw the look on Naruto's face.

XxXx

After Harry had told him about the other teachers and the Malfoy boy, Naruto decided to do a bit of reconnaissance. For weeks he secretly studied the movements of Dumbledore, Quirrell, and Snape through the use of Kage Bushin, and what he found out was very odd.

Snape tortured his students for most of the day before grading papers and spending the rest of his time brewing potions or reading a book every now and then when he wasn't supervising detentions.

Dumbledore, who was a part of the Wizengamot, left the castle for meetings every two weeks and was gone for most of the day. This wasn't what was odd though.

No, it was Quirrell who was raising the big red flag in Naruto's mind.

He would frequently skulk around the third floor with a gleam in his eye that Naruto had often seen in his shinobi days, greed. After the man taught class, he would just sit there in his office, muttering to himself, seemingly having a two-person conversation with no one else in the room.

He would then wait until midnight and sneak off into the forbidden forest where he would disappear from Narutos surveillance for an hour or two before coming out of the forest with his mouth glistening slightly, from what, Naruto didn't know.

What he did know was that Harry was going to be staying away from this one. Far away.

XxXx

It had been on Halloween that Naruto decided that Quirrell was his biggest danger at the time. Early on during the feast Naruto noticed that Quirrell wasn't there. Sending out one of his Kage Bushin to find out where the man was, he was greeted with a startling revelation.

The Bushin saw Quirrell leading a troll into the school near the girls bathroom before running off to the Great Hall. Relaying this information to the real Naruto, he was just barely thinking up ideas of how to deal with the troll, Quirrell barged into the Great Hall.

Shouting out what Naruto knew was a lie, the man pretended to pass out while Dumbledore sent off the students towards their dormitories. Giving Harry, who was with his friends at the time, a quick nod, and after making sure no one was looking, Naruto made three more Kage Bushin.

One to watch over Harry and his group as they went up the stairs, one to watch Quirrell, and one to watch the Slytherins as they made their way towards their dormitories, which just so happened to be in the dungeons.

Naruto had surprisingly taken a liking to many of the Slytherin students and to his surprise; they had taken a liking to him as well.

It had been after one of his lessons that a group of them had stayed behind to ask him a question. It seems that they had overheard Malfoy cursing his name in the common room and wanted to know if it was true or not that he could shut the boy up.

After a brief nod, he quickly found himself with a small group of admirers consisting of the first year muggleborns and halfbloods in the Slytherin house. They really didn't like Snape too much as a head of house as he and a few choice others gave the whole house a bad name.

The older students had felt the same way and had been speaking to him about what they could do to help improve their house image.

They had been brainstorming ideas for a bit and while they hadn't come up with anything yet, instead they formed a very tentative bond with the blond that should have been formed with their head of house.

Even some of the purebloods felt the same and, while they didn't come in groups like the others, they did seek him out for advice or just to have someone to talk too. Some of the student's home lives weren't all that great. Even though none of the suspected students had told him this, he could easily see it whenever family came up.

It reminded him far too much of how Harry was when he was younger and of himself as a child. He would have to do something about that.

But back to the matter at hand, seeing that Snape had gone AWOL he decided he would have a clone watch over and lead the Slytherins to their common room. It was the least he could do for them; they had really started to grow on him.

The real Naruto, in the meantime, had quickly made his was towards the girls bathroom where the troll was still lurking, he quickly formed a rasengan before shoving it in the trolls face. The troll, though blown back on its butt, was still conscious.

As it lumbered toward him, he quickly formed hand signs before shouting out,

"_Futon: Renkudan"_

Blasting out a large spinning bullet of air, he sent the troll flying down the hall where it impacted with the wall leaving a large hole in the wall where its head connected. The troll was dead on impact.

A grim looked crossed his face when he received the information that Quirrell had been lurking on the third floor again. He sighed as he went to alert the other teachers that the troll situation was taken care of.

XxXx

Naruto had made a decision and he hoped it would be the right one.

Seeing as though the winter holidays were coming around he would deal with Quirrell when the students left for home. Of course he knew that there would still be some students left in the castle of course but it would be better since there would only be a few of them left.

There were quite a few reasons for his decision to do this of course, Harry being one of them. Although it wasn't really noticeable to the untrained eye, Quirrell seemed to be stalking the young boy.

Harry of course noticed and quickly told Naruto who, by then, had already known.

Another reason was because of what Naruto had found out while spying on Dumbledore. From his surveillance, he learned of a stone located in the school, that would grant the user immortality and that the four head of houses knew of its existence in the school.

Now using logic, something Naruto found himself doing more and more these days, he concluded that it was a test for Harry. Why, he didn't know, but he did know that he wasn't going to allow this little test to take place.

XxXx

It was the night before the students went home for the holidays and the day before Naruto would confront Quirrell. It was a few days before the holidays and the day that Dumbledore would be out of the castle, another reason Naruto chose this day.

Currently though, Naruto was patrolling the halls, as was a teachers duty, when he came across an open doorway.

There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it, however what was inside caught his eye. Curiosity taking hold, he made his way inside only to be confronted with a rather ornate mirror. Taking in the odd site of the mirror standing by itself in an empty room, he noticed the inscription on the top.

_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

_I show not your face but your hearts desire._

The image that met his eyes when he looked in the mirror shocked him to the core.

Standing around him were all of his old friends and family: Tsunade, Sakura, Shikamaru, Hinata, Kiba, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and everyone else from the leaf. Even Sauske was there with his trademark smirk on his face. But it was softer than he remembered, he was happy.

All of them were.

He didn't know how long he stood there, trapped by the image. He didn't know when the tears started to fall and he didn't care.

He could've stayed there forever, just staring at the image, if it wasn't for the fact that it started to change.

He didn't notice at first but there was another person in the mirror, away in the distance at first but then they started to come forward. Naruto recognized the person, from the messy black hair, to the odd scar and bright green eyes that shown with mirth and happiness.

_'Harry'_

He watched as the image of Harry walked up to him and everyone from Konoha walking further away while still staying in the mirror. Harry stood next to him with a smile on his face as everyone from Konoha stood further away in the background, all of them still smiling.

He closed his eyes and with a sad smile he walked away from the mirror, filled with a sense of closure he knew he didn't have before.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Ravenclaw Riddle of the Day

I never was, am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet I am the confidence of all, to live and breath on this terrestrial ball. What am I?

R&R


	16. In Which There Is Fight And Flight

**Chapter 16: In Which There Is Fight And Flight**

* * *

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter or Naruto I would not have made the damn manga so confusing nor would I have made such a ridiculous epilogue. Although I will say that Harry and Ginny did good with Albus S. P. If you saw the movie you'd know what I'm talking about.

AN: The answer for the last Ravenclaw Riddle is Tomorrow or the Future.

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

* * *

XxXx

Harry could tell that something was bothering Naruto. If it hadn't been for the fact that Harry knew the older man very well he would have never guessed that something was going on with him.

Currently, Harry was sitting by himself at the Ravenclaw table, which, like the other tables, was almost empty of every student who had gone home for the holidays.

Even quite a few members of the staff had left. Currently there was only Snape, McGonagall, Quirrell, and Naruto at the staff table. Harry glanced at Naruto again and noticed the subtle shifts in his movements that would only show if he was tense or on his guard.

Something was wrong and Harry hoped that whatever it was would be resolved without any trouble. He sighed thinking that he had just jinxed himself.

XxXx

Naruto followed Quirrell after breakfast. The man had been more jittery today that he had been the past few months.

He was heading towards the third floor corridor again and with Dumbledore out of the castle and hardly any of the teachers still here he would have a clear shot at the stone.

While it seemed like the perfect opportunity for Quirrell to steal the stone, it would also be the perfect chance for Naruto to take him out while making it look like an accident.

From the shadows, he watched as Quirrell opened the door containing a massive three-headed. The dog quickly attacked Quirrell but it didn't make much headway into said attack before it was met with a Reductor curse to the middle face.

The curse blasted the poor animal off to the other side of the room, thus revealing a trap door. Quirrell quickly made his way down the door leaving it ajar, before the three-headed dog could regain its senses.

If Naruto was surprised, he didn't show it as he quickly made his way down the trap door after the other man sparing a brief pitying glance at the animal.

As he clung to the ceiling of the room he entered he was met with an intense heat. It looked to him as if Quirrell was setting some type of plant ablaze before running off towards the next room.

Although unknown to the other man, Naruto was hot on his trail carefully avoiding the flaming vines that were swinging about in agony.

XxXx

Harry sighed as he wandered the castle. He seemed to be doing that a lot. All of his friends were gone over the holiday and not only that but Naruto was nowhere to be found.

As he was turning the corner, he was met with the sight of two fiery red heads peering over a piece of parchment with an odd look of concentration on their faces.

It was then that he realized that it was Fred and George Weasley, who, along with their brothers, had stayed over for the holidays- something about their parents visiting one of their other brothers in another country or something of the like.

Seriously, how many kids did they have?

Harry being who he was- a naturally curious person- ever since he met Naruto, was rather sneaky when he had to be. So without their noticing, Harry quietly stepped behind them to see what it was that they were looking at with a startling intensity.

It was, like he thought, a piece of parchment, but what surprised him was that there was an entire map of what he assumed was the school on it, with dots representing each person. And the dots they happened to be looking at were labeled Quirrell and one Naruto Uzumaki.

Before he knew what he was doing, he snatched the parchment from the twins ignoring their startled cries of protest so he could get a better look at what was happening.

The dots seemed to be moving at high speeds, at least the Naruto dot was. The Twins were about to take back the map before all three of them were thrown to the floor.

It was then that Harry realized that he was right next to the forbidden corridor where the door had just been blown off its hinges by a large explosion throwing all three of them to the ground.

XxXx

To Naruto it was obvious that Quirrell had become rather desperate in his attempt to steal the stone, as he charged through each "defense" that was put up by the other teachers in the school, without any ounce of subtlety.

At least now he wouldn't have to come up with an excuse as to why they would be missing a defense professor for the next term.

Quirrell blasted through the room with flying keys and decimated the transfigured chess pieces with blasting curse after blasting curse. Naruto was still following behind him without his knowing, dodging flying debris and staying hidden. It was when they came upon the room with the troll that things went south.

It had to be one of the dumbest rookie mistakes that he could've made but honestly, no one really could blame him.

If anyone from Konoha had been in his position, Naruto was sure they would have reacted the same. He gagged and shouted as he held his nose, "Oh Kami the smell!"

He had a point seeing as though this troll was much larger and even more foul smelling than the one he dealt with on Halloween.

An errant thought that maybe trolls grew smellier as they grew taller passed his mind, but it was wiped away quickly.

His shout had alerted both Quirrell and the troll that he was there. Before he knew it, he was dodging lethal spell after lethal spell while also having to dodge a rather ravenous troll that had been trapped in this room for who knows how long.

Flying lights, wild clubs, and huge troll feet stomping about made Naruto realize how much he missed a decent fight in the shinobi world where things made more sense to him.

It really was ridiculous how quickly the man was spouting out the spells, Naruto thought as he dodged an electric purple curse that left a smoking hole in the wall. Luckily, Naruto wasn't the type to just dodge and not retaliate.

He quickly went through a series of hand signs before launching wind blades at an enraged looking Quirrell. The man dodged but Naruto was quick to follow up with a fast taijutsu combo reminiscent of Gai-sensei's Dynamic Action.

Naruto launched himself at Quirrell and with a vicious flurry of strikes and jabs, the once stuttering professor was sent flying across the room.

Quirrell, impressively, was quickly back on his feet casting what looked like the Killing Curse, well it was a sickly green light and Naruto wasn't going to test the theory to see if he was right. He made one mistake already; he wasn't going to aim for another.

Quickly making his signature hand sign, he summoned three Kage Bushin: two to deal with the troll, and the last to help him out with Quirrell. The man really was tougher than he looked.

Sending a look to his clone, they both quickly went through hand signs before shouting,

"_Daikamitachi no Jutsu!"_

"_Katon: Karyu Endan!"_

The resulting blaze fueled by the great cutting technique quickly over took Quirrell while setting most of the rest of the room on fire. The fire itself had no effect whatsoever on the troll but it set it's club ablaze.

One of the Naruto clones that had been dealing with the troll sent the original Naruto a glare.

"Sorry!" Naruto didn't feel the least bit odd having to apologize to his own clone.

He turned back to face where Quirrell's body should be only to discover a purple transparent shield around his form. He hadn't gotten away unscathed as some of his face and clothing had been burned away, including the man's turban.

"You great fool! Do you not realize who you are dealing with?" he shouted. He turned around and to Naruto's great disgust; there was another face on the back of Quirrell's head.

"Oh that's just sick," he said. This did explain who it was the Quirrell had been muttering too all those nights though.

"Silence you useless twit! Master, what shall we do with him?" The man said switching from a furious tone to a slight anxious and simpering one.

In a voice that reminded him strongly of Orochimaru but with a wispy sort of quality, the face spoke, "Dispose of him in the most brutal way you can imagine, my servant."

"Of course Master," The once stuttering professor said obediently.

Naruto readied himself for the next barrage of spells that came in a flurry of different colored lights. He matched each spell with either kunai or shuriken, making the two faced man dance, although Naruto did throw in the occasional jutsu.

It seemed to him that they had been fighting for hours when it had really only been minutes before the troll came smashing through, it's eyes bloodied and missing an arm.

The Naruto clone came rushing in with a Rasengan but was destroyed by the Trolls wild swings. It had to have been the worst luck but the troll changed it's direction and started heading for Naruto.

He groaned before dodging the flaming club. It should've only taken one Rasengan to the face to kill this thing but it was more stubborn that the last it seemed.

Summoning his chakra he leaped, dodging the flaming club, before shoving the Rasengan in it's face and forcing it to expand on impact, shredding the troll into bits. Unfortunately, it seemed that Quirrell had taken the opportunity to run into the next room. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

'So, you wanna run huh? I like a good chase'

XxXx

As he passed through the next room purple flames sprung up from behind him blocking the exit while black flames also blocking the entrance to the next room.

As he looked around the room he saw broken bottles tossed about the room with odd liquids still trapped in some of them. The only bottles still left was rather small with it's top still off and a round bottle. next to it was a piece of paper.

It was a riddle that Naruto couldn't make heads or tails out of. All he knew was that one bottle would get him through and one back and the rest were either useless or poisoned.

Clearly Quirrell had already been in here and was careless enough to leave evidence as to which bottle would get him through the next room. He put the round bottle in his pocket while drinking from small one and charging into the next room.

There he found the two faced man standing in front of a rather familiar mirror, his second face screaming at him.

"Hurry you stuttering idiot and get the stone!"

"Master I do not know how," Quirrell cried.

"And you're not going to find out how," Naruto said.

"You fool! End him or suffer the consequences!" shouted the face on the back of Quirrell's head.

"Yes Master, of course," Quirrell said while grimacing. That's when he felt it, a terror not even his master could instill in him. He looked at the blond only to see icy blue eyes looking at him.

That's when the visions of his death started to bombard his mind quickly bringing him to his knees. Naruto starred down at the quivering man before taking a kunai out to finish the job.

Just before his head was sent flying he heard the man mutter something indecipherable, but he put it off as nothing to worry about.

Knowing that Quirrell couldn't possibly have survived Naruto turned to leave but froze as a haunting scream pierced his ears.

Gliding past him was an odd smoky substance that held the face that was on the back of Quirrell's head.

"You haven't seen the last of Lord Voldemort you fool!" it spat at him before quickly taking off towards the exit. Naruto was about to take off after it when he was stopped by a second sound.

This one worse than the last. He turned back to see a hoard of fiery creatures looming over him and blocking the exit.

_'Ah, shit'_

XxXx

Harry, Fred, and George stared in shock and horror as a ghostly figure formed from the smoke billowing from the room, the parchment lay forgotten in an alcove nearby.

Harry couldn't help but shudder at the way it looked at him with its deep piercing eyes.

He knew he had to get away, and fast. But he was frozen in place, fear having taken hold of not only him, but Fred and George as well. He wasn't ready for this yet.

Naruto had taught him a bit of taijutsu and just a bit of ninjutsu, the henge, and told him stories of his adventures but he didn't know that the real thing would be like this.

This intense fear of whatever this thing was in front of the three of them.

He didn't know what to do.

He wanted Naruto here with him, to protect him from whatever this thing was.

All of this processed through his mind in less than a second but to him it felt like an eternity.

So focused he was that he didn't notice the teachers approaching, drawn by the loud explosions.

He didn't notice when the twins tried to grab him and run.

And he didn't notice the ghostly figure whisper his name before swooping down on him.

It was only then that he knew pain like no other, and then darkness.

* * *

A bit short I know. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Ravenclaw Riddle of the Day

What is it that after you take away the whole, some still remains?

R&R


	17. In Which There Is Possession

**Chapter 17: In Which There Is Possession**

* * *

Disclaimer: I hate these things. It's like they purposely make us write them just so we have to be reminded of the fact that we own absolutely none of these aspects.

AN: The answer to the last riddle was the word 'wholesome'. Take away the word whole and the word some will still remain.

Don't forget to review!

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED

* * *

XxXx

Naruto stared at the fiery creatures that loomed over him in frightening fascination. The creatures seemed to flow out of one another, over the top, underneath, and all around- fiery apparitions of danger, roaring and rushing around. It was a fascinating yet deadly show. A split second later, snapping out of his awed daze, he was dodging their attempts to smother him in the flames.

He flipped up and clung to the ceiling, moving this way and that, as different types of animals started forming in the fire. Lions, birds, and a host of other things he couldn't name charged at him with an incredibly loud screeching sound.

He had no idea what type of spell could call upon sentient fire but he knew he had to get rid of it. His exit was already blocked and there wasn't much room in the area he was in. It was either douse the flames or be burned to a crisp while the rest of the school was set on fire.

All the while jumping away from the fire, he cast as many water based jutsu that he could think of, but each one had little to no effect on the fire. He grimaced as he looked around the room.

There was no place left to go and most of the room was starting to crumble, the mirror long since burned away along with the stone, if that earlier cracking sound was any indication. Thinking quickly, he rapidly went through a long series of hand signs before shouting out:

_"Suiton: Bakusui Shoha!"_

Gallons of water shot out of his mouth,completely filling up the room with water and smothering the flames.

The water impacted the door before rushing into each of the previous rooms, carrying him along with the current, and filling them with water. He could hear the fire screeching even louder, as if it was in pain from the water. He knew what desperation could do and he didn't want to give that sentient fire any type of edge against him. Luckily, it wasn't long before the fire was completely smothered and put out, letting him heave a small sigh of relief.

He caught his breath and stood. As he started to head back up the path, he could only think of one thing, _'I need to get a wand.'_

XxXx

He was trapped in the darkness.

He knew nothing.

Nothing but the constant feeling of pain that coursed through his body.

He tried to escape, to break free but every time he did, all he saw was an angry pair of red eyes before being shoved back into the darkness. He didn't know what to do. He was scared.

_'Help me, somebody.'_

He never noticed the figure standing over him.

XxXx

Snape and McGonagall had moved Harry's body down to the infirmary where Madame Pomfrey, who was still there at the school, took over the situation. They had brought Fred and George as well, questioning them about what happened along the way.

It was a testament to how serious the situation was that they didn't crack any type of jokes. They told them about how they were just wandering the corridors, omitting the fact that they had the marauders map, saying that they saw Professor Quirrell go inside the forbidden corridor.

If it hadn't been for the fact that Professor Naruto went in after him they would've thought almost nothing of it.

The twins then told them that they had decided to wait to see if anything happened when Harry stumbled upon them. They told them about how the door exploded and the shock wave sent them to the floor before some smoky figure emerged, before overtaking Harry.

Snape and McGonagall looked at each other before they heard the sound of a tortured scream. They all turned to see Harry thrashing around in the infirmary bed with Madame Pomfrey trying to hold him down.

Snape rushed to aid the Nurse while quickly binding him to the bed. It was clear to see that something was possessing him and they had no idea what it was.

They were all startled though, when the infirmary doors opened to reveal a rather disheveled Naruto, whose clothes were burned in some places and the rest of him soaking wet.

Not knowing what had happened within the forbidden corridor, Snape and McGonagall, who had moved in front of Fred and George, aimed their wands at him. It was with a bewildered look at them that Naruto slowly spoke.

"What are you two doing?" he said aiming his question towards the two professors.

"We don't know what went on in the corridor but we do know you were involved," McGonagall said. "Until we know what happened, you aren't coming anywhere near..." she was cut off by another scream from Harry, this one louder than the last.

Naruto, hearing the scream darted forward only to be stopped by a wand at his neck. Snape stood protectively in front of Madame Pomfrey and Harry, a dark look on his face.

"Give me a reason, I dare you," he sneered.

Naruto clenched his fist.

"Look, I don't know what you think happened down there, but I can tell you this. I would never hurt that child, or any other," he nearly shouted. "Quirrell was being possessed by something, something that wanted that stone you had hidden down there," he said ignoring looks of shock on their faces. "I can help Harry but only if you let me."

He looked at the professor in front of him, pleading with his eyes to allow him to help Harry. For a moment no one said anything, McGonagall still standing in front of the twins who were just as shocked as anyone.

When a few seconds passed in contemplation, Snape spoke, "You harm that boy and you'll regret it. I'll be watching you." He moved slightly out of the way.

Madame Pomfrey who was still trying to deal with Harry looked at the pair before giving Naruto enough room to help her.

"What exactly is it that you're going to do?" she said. She wasn't the only one who wanted to know. Snape, McGonagall and the twins that she was trying to usher out of the room also wanted to know.

Naruto sighed deeply before calling on the Kyuubi's cloak again. Everyone had looks of astonishment on their faces as he was once again shrouded in that unearthly golden glow.

As he placed his hands on either side of Harry's head he said, "I'm going get that bastard out of my students head."

He closed his eyes before allowing his consciousness to slip from him and enter Harry. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was his chakra cloaking Harry the same way it covered him whenever he used it.

XxXx

It was dark in Harry's mind, the only light emitting from him as he was still shrouded in the Kyuubi's chakra cloak. Looking around Naruto could just faintly make out the outline of a person in the distance. Rushing forward he called out, "Harry!"

He ran for what seemed like miles before he reached the boy. He couldn't hold back slight gasp at the sight of the boy in front of him.

He knew that Harry was physically fine as he had just saw him but this mental representation of Harry was almost enough to send him into hysterics.

Harry was laying spread eagle with blood running down his face from his scar, which had become a nasty red. The boys robes were in tatters and it looked as if he had bruises forming around his neck. His eyes were the worst. They were blank staring at nothing, as if all the life in them had gone. In his shock, Naruto dropped to his knees before calling his name again.

"Harry," he said while taking him into his arms and slowly shaking him. "Harry wake up, please."

"He won't wake," a voice said behind him. Naruto jumped at the sound. Slowly, he stood still holding Harry in his arms, before turning to face the source of the voice. The sight that met him would've scared a lesser man. He was starring at a ghostly form of what used to be Lord Voldemort. The man was bald with a snake like nose and eyes as red as fire. He had on a black cloak and wore a self-satisfying smirk on his face that infuriated Naruto to no end.

"So you're this so called 'Lord' Voldemort," he said with his voice taking on an uncharacteristic sneer. "What is it that you want with Harry? Why won't he wake up?"

Voldemort smirked.

"He won't wake because I won't allow it. You see, this is my body now, and whatever I say goes. The boy is nothing now, and he will never be more than nothing. It was simply a fluke, a one in a million chance what happened that night my spell backfired. He took my body away so I will do the same with his, all the while enjoying torturing his pathetic consciousness. There's just one little issue, one thing that has stopped me from outright destroying what's left of the boy in your arms," he said while circling him.

"And what would that be?" Naruto said while tightening his hold on Harry. He couldn't help but notice that instead of complete darkness there were colors now. Many of them slowly making their way over his head and around him while the area around them changed into a rather grassy meadow. His attention was brought back to Voldemort as he spoke again.

"Do you see those colors above us? That is what is stopping me from accessing his memories and overtaking his personality with my own. Oh I can dominate almost every part of his personality with the amount of age and experience I have as an adult but the moment I tried to access his memories and assimilate them into my own," he paused as his eyes started to glow.

"I GOT STOPPED BY THOSE IRRITATING LIGHTS ABOVE US!" he screamed. He threw his hands forward sending a sickly green light at the pair. Naruto turned his back towards him, shielding Harry from Voldemorts attack but it never reached them.

Naruto turned back to see a rather large expanse of colors surrounding the two of them. The thing that surprised Naruto the most was that the energy around them felt familiar. Way too familiar. He felt Harry energy in it along with something else, but he mostly felt his own.

_'The seal, the one I put on him to stop people from reading his mind,'_ he thought. _'That's what this is.'_

"It's the one thing that's keeping that boy here. I know you have something to do with this," Voldemort said bringing Naruto's attention back to him as he regained his composure. "This reeks of that power you used to fight Quirrell."

Naruto simply glared while trying to come up with some idea of what to do. Not much with Harry in his arms.

"Now, Naruto was your name wasn't it," Voldemort said. "Such an interesting power you possess. Tell me what is it? I don't believe I've ever seen anything like it before."

"What on earth makes you think that I'll tell you anything?" Naruto growled.

"Surely you've noticed it," he said with that infuriating smirk back on his face. "The more I attack, the more the shield of colors becomes weaker. But it's taking too long. There is, however, one way to get rid of it. A much quicker method."

Naruto stepped back, with a grim look on his face. He knew what that meant. He tensed as Voldemort spoke his next words.

"Ending your existence."

XxXx

"This is taking too long," Snape said as he paced the medical wing. It had been two hours since Naruto had first closed his eyes. Madame Pomfrey had long since checked out Fred and George and sent them on their way, sealing the infirmary.

McGonagall had gone to check out what had happened on the third floor, coming back after only thirty minutes. She had sent her patronus to Dumbledore at least an hour ago and the man still hadn't shown up. Now all they could do was wait. Wait on Dumbledore to show up and wait for Naruto to come back to himself.

"Why Severus I didn't know you cared," Minerva said sarcastically.

"I may not like the boy but he is a student and just a child," he snarled. "I don't want him dead."

She sighed.

"I know Severus, I'm just a bit on edge," she said. He was about to respond when they heard a low moan. They turned to see blood running down Naruto's arm as a cut mysteriously appeared on his body, visible through the golden glow that surrounded him. Madame Pomfrey rushed to his side when another appeared on his leg, this one much deeper than the one on his arm.

"What's happening to him?" Minerva said with shock written on her face.

"I don't know," Madame Pomfrey exclaimed, as his cheek was sliced open. "I don't know why this is happening."

She healed the cuts as they appeared; luckily, they were already in the process of healing when she got to them.

"Whatever is going on in that boy's mind is obviously affecting Uzumaki's physical body," Snape said. Snape, having plenty of experience in the mind arts immediately knew what Naruto had done when he closed his eyes. "I've never heard of anything that could do something like that though. Fortunately it doesn't seem to be affecting the Potter brat, yet."

"Well all we can really do is hope that Mr. Uzumaki knows what he's doing," Minerva said with a pale face.

XxXx

_'This is insane'_ Naruto thought as he dodged the many attacks that came from all directions. _'How the hell am I supposed to beat him when he can literally bend this reality into anything he wants?'_

Voldemort hadn't been lying when he said that he was in control of almost everything in Harry's mind. Multiplying himself by the hundreds, he started casting spell after spell at Naruto.

Naruto, who could have easily matched him with his own numbers, had found his ability to create clones disabled. Any jutsu Naruto tried failed as well, including the Rasengan. All he could do was run as he tried to dodge and shield Harry from Voldemorts attacks.

Naruto had been trying to awaken Harry but to no avail. The seal that had been protecting them had slowly begun to dwindle as it was hit with attack after attack. As it was, it wouldn't last much longer, having to shield not only Harry but Naruto as well.

The proof being that some of the attacks had landed. The only good thing was that the Kyuubi's cloak still protected him somewhat and that they were healing at a visible rate.

"Run you insignificant little pest!" Voldemort shouted as he floated above Naruto. "I'll enjoy watching you burn!"

As he said this, he summoned fire directly in front of Naruto, cutting off any place he had left to run. Naruto turned to face what could only be described as an army of Voldemorts slowly making their way towards him. Sweat trickled down his face from the heat and heart pumping wildly Naruto looked to Harry.

"Harry please wake up!" Naruto said desperately. "This is your mind and your body! He can't tell you what to do here!"

"He won't wake you simpering fool!" Voldemort mocked. "It's too late for him!"

"Harry please, you have to wake up!" Naruto yelled. He looked up to see each and every Voldemort aiming their wands at the pair, the seal feebly appearing around the two of them. It was clear to Naruto, and Voldemort that it wouldn't stand against the next attack.

As one, the army of Voldemorts cast their spell, sending a dark haze towards the pair. Naruto turned his back towards them in an effort to shield the boy in his arms while subconsciously concentrating the Kyuubi's chakra into the seal he had made.

As the attack hit them, Naruto felt the enormity of the recoil. It nearly made him black out right then and there but he managed to hold out. Miraculously, when the attack ended the seal was still in place, a bit brighter than it was before.

Naruto heard Voldemort snarl as he dropped to his knees, exhaustion quickly setting in. He turned to see the real Voldemort making his way over and placed Harry on the ground behind him. As Voldemort reached them, he was quickly lifted off his feet, Voldemort holding him by his throat as the seal sprung up around Harry once more.

"I was going to end you quickly but I think I'll just enjoy make you suffer before you die," he whispered.

XxXx

The teachers watched in silent horror as wound after wound suddenly appeared on Naruto's body.

Madame Pomfrey was quick to deal with them, but they showed up at an alarming rate. They all were pale by that point and feeling all too helpless to do anything.

XxXx

Naruto groaned as he was tossed back towards the wall of fire, the heat making his wounds even more aggravated than they already were. Voldemort hadn't been kidding when he said that he would make him suffer. But as long as he was focusing on him and not Harry, Naruto could care less.

He grimaced as the Kyuubi's cloak slowly faded away. He couldn't use his jutsu, he had no more weapons, he was exhausted and hurt, and his seal only protected Harry from Voldemort and that was quickly going to disappear. He really wasn't sure what he could do at this point, but he wouldn't give up.

He slowly made his way over to where Harry lay. He turned at the sound of Voldemort's laughter.

"So much bravery, I must commend you for it," Voldemort said. "However it was all in vain. You're going to die here, groveling at my feet."

_'What can I do?'_ he thought. _'At this rate...'_

He clenched his fist. No, there had to be something. There was always something. He blocked out the sound of Voldemort's voice and concentrated, something he wasn't always known for when he was younger.

_'There had to be something... wait!'_ His eyes snapped open in realization. His seal that had been keeping Harry's memories protected responded to his chakra. _'Maybe, if...'_ He struggled to get to his feet, all the while glaring at Voldemort.

"So going to stand and face me before you die? How... noble," he said in a condescending tone. As he raised his wand to give the final blow, Naruto closed his eyes. 'I just need a little, which should be enough.'

His body tensed as he heard Voldemort announcing his spell. With speed that could only come from a ninja, he jumped back, while grabbing Harry, and poured all of his remaining chakra into the fading seal. Voldemort never knew what hit him.

XxXx

Madame Pomfrey's screech shocked both of the other Professors from their seats. They jumped up only to see elaborate glowing rainbow colored markings covering Harry's body.

They were about to attend to him, not that they could do much, when his eyes and mouth opened in a silent scream as a smoky substance poured from his mouth. The figure writhed before shooting out of the window with a piercing scream.

Wide eyed, they turned back to see the markings fading from Harry's face as the boy fell into a peaceful, but deep sleep. Their attention was brought back to Naruto as he opened his eyes, an exhausted, but satisfied look on his face.

"Wow, I can't believe that worked," he said before collapsing on the bed. Madame Pomfrey quickly ran a scan on the both of them.

"Mr. Potter will be fine with a little rest," she said with a small smile prompting the other two teachers to breathe a sigh of relief. "Mr. Uzumaki will need some rest as well as he heals from his injuries though, but he'll be okay."

"Oh thank goodness," Minerva said clutching her chest. Snape's familiar sneer was now back on his face as the danger passed.

However, it was soon to be replaced by a look of incredulity as the infirmary doors opened to reveal Dumbledore, wearing his usual robes, with an odd sense of bewilderment on his face. He raised his eyebrows before asking, "Did I miss something?"

Distracted as they were, they never noticed an odd black substance slowly dripping from Harry's scar.

* * *

Ravenclaw Riddle of the Day

There is one word that stands the test of time and holds fast to the center of everything. Though everyone will try at least once in their life to move around this word, but in fact, unknowingly, they use it every moment of the day. Young or old, awake or in sleep, human or animal, this word stands fast. It belongs to everyone, to all living things, but no one can master it. The word is?

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	18. In Which There Is Deception

Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply. I'm not writing this again. Too depressing.

AN: Hello! So I've been gone from this story for like a month or so and I apologize for that. But life interfered and I hit a dreadful writers block for this story. But I did work on my other story 'Rather Die Young'. A crossover between Sailor Moon and Harry Potter. I'm glad with the response I got with it and will have the next chapter soon. If you like Sailor Moon go and check it out.

AN2: So the ending to this chapter may be a bit confusing, but if you've been paying attention then it won't be TOO surprising. Maybe. The answer to the last riddle was 'Gravity'.

AN3: If you were a bit confused by the end to the last chapter then here's basically what happened. Harry was being possessed by Voldemort's spirit. Naruto went into his mind to try and help. The seal that Naruto put on Harry to keep people out of his mind expelled Voldemort when Naruto flooded it with his chakra. And the horcrux in Harry's head is gone as a result. Essentially it fused with the broken spirit that was Voldemort and gave him enough power that allowed him to do what it is that he did in Harry's mind. Hope that clears some stuff up for you.

Enjoy the story!

* * *

XxXx

It was dark when Naruto first opened his eyes, which let him know that it had to be some time at night. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn't in his quarters, which had taken on the unique color of orange.

That's when the memories of what had transpired earlier that day came rushing forward. He looked around to see Harry not too far from him, resting peacefully in a hospital bed.

Naruto bit back a curse.

The last thing he heard before passing out was Dumbledore's voice. Which meant that the old man was going to start questioning, if he hadn't already, why Naruto was so familiar with Harry.

If he had to guess, he would say that the old man would be here the next morning trying to pry information from their heads and if he couldn't find anything, or if he did find something, then he knew they'd be royally screwed over.

And if the old man found out that he had been taking care of Harry for the past few years it would probably boil down to a fight where, no matter the outcome, he would end up being persecuted as the villain.

This was one of the concerns that he had harbored early on, when he had first ended up taking Harry in. He needed something, some type of information that would keep him from becoming the villain in this situation.

He took a quick look around, making sure there wasn't anyone coming, before biting his thumb and going through a series of quick hand seals and slamming his palm on the ground, a plume of smoke appearing.

"Naruto-chan!" a newly summoned Shima exclaimed. He quickly shushed her before looking around to see if someone had heard. After a moment when he was sure no one was coming, he turned his focus back to the two elderly toads.

"Listen, I don't have much time," Naruto in a hushed voice. "I won't go into much detail about what happened, but we need to get some dirt on Dumbledore, now."

"What's going on Naruto-chan?" Fukasaku said.

"Dumbledore will soon find out about me and Harry. You remember what we talked about a while back, about how it is possible that Dumbledore wasn't really Dumbledore? I need you to figure it out as soon as you possibly can, at least by the morning," he said quickly. "I know it's a lot to ask but I really need this bit of information. Do you think you can do it?"

They were silent for a moment before they chuckled quietly confusing Naruto.

"Naruto-chan, we were actually going to talk to you about this tomorrow. We found out what happened to the real Dumbledore. We won't go into too much detail, not enough time, but we found him and we're going to bring him here soon."

"Really? That's great! No better than great! Make sure you're ready, I'll be summoning you at anytime tomorrow."

"Okay, tomorrow then," Fukasaku said before he was cut off by the sound of footsteps. They quickly disappeared in a small cloud of smoke as Naruto lay back down and closed his eyes, while evening his breathing. It turns out that it was just Madame Pomfrey checking on him.

"Hmm, I could have sworn my charms went off," she said as she reapplied her charms the let her know when a patient was awake. She did a quick scan on Naruto, marveling at how quickly his injuries had healed before doing the same to Harry. He also seemed to be recovering from his ordeal quickly, which in her mind was a good thing. The sooner he healed the better.

Afterward she quietly headed back to her quarters to get some more sleep.

XxXx

Naruto awoke early the next day. The sun was just barely over the horizon, giving the snow on the ground a glittery look.

As he shook off the sleepiness, he started getting ready to summon the two toads to ask if everything had gone according to plan when Madame Pomfrey rushed in. She started in on a long rant, berating him for behaving recklessly, as she ran a few more scans on him. Her face softened as she finished.

"I do have to thank you though, for saving that young man over there," she said looking at Harry who was still asleep.

"It was no problem," he said quietly. There was a comfortable silence as she finished her scans on Harry.

"He'll be just fine," she said finally. "Just needs lots of rest, though. Whatever you did certainly did the trick."

As she said this, Naruto released a breath he hadn't known that he was holding. He had been worried that after all the trauma the young boys mind had gone through would cause a horrible amount of damage that would be irreversible.

She turned to look at him.

"The headmaster would like to speak with you as soon as possible," she said with a slight frown on her face. Naruto wasn't surprised, so he simply nodded when she told him he'd be able to leave as soon as he wanted to.

As she began to part, she made one last comment.

"Oh, and have a Merry Christmas," and with that she went back to her office.

XxXx

Naruto took a breath as he exited the hospital wing, a sense of impending doom settling upon him. The reason, this could very well be the last time he saw Harry.

If he did have to fight, he hoped he would have enough energy; all of the events the previous day had taken its toll on him.

Of course, there was the slim chance that the old man wouldn't say anything about how close they seemed to be. He was prepared for any eventuality though.

As he neared the great hall, he spotted the unmistakable gleaming robes and twinkling eyes of Albus Dumbledore.

"Ah! Mr. Uzumaki," he said with a bright smile on his face. "I hope you are feeling well."

"Better, Professor," Naruto said a bit cautiously. "And yourself?"

"Oh I'm doing quite fine," he replied as they entered the empty great hall. "I do have a few questions, if you don't mind my asking."

"Not at all," he said with a bit of apprehension.

"How did you figure out that Quirrell was going after the stone?"

He calmed slightly.

"I've been watching him for months," Naruto admitted. "The erratic behavior, the troll, talking to himself in an empty room as though there was another person there. When he went down the third floor corridor yesterday, I followed him and, well you know the rest," he finished a bit lamely.

"Ah, interesting," he said. "Do you mind if I ask another question then?"

"Not at all," he said, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

"How long have you known Mr. Potter?"

"What makes you think..." he was cut off by the man's powerful magic lashing out at him, blasting him through the house tables and pinning him to the wall, the double doors to the great hall closing with a loud bang.

"Do you take me for a fool?" Dumbledore said coldly while walking towards Naruto. "From what I was able to discern from Minerva, Severus, and Poppy, you seemed far too concerned about him than was normal for a professor who has had minimal interaction with him. So I did some digging. It seems that you've been his neighbor for a number of years."

Naruto's eyes widened. How did the old man know that?

"You slipped," he said. "You may have scared the Dursleys enough to keep their mouths shut but you forgot to protect their minds. It was quite easy to slip into their pathetic minds and learn what I needed to know, which turned out to be quite a bit. Although if I hadn't been so negligent I would have found out quite a bit sooner. So, what have you taught young Harry?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, saying nothing, as he tried to fight the magic holding him to the wall.

"Not talking? Okay then, I'll get the information out of you one way or another," he said while raising his wand to Naruto. "_Legilimens_!"

XxXx

_Inside Naruto's mind_

"What is this?" Dumbledore said as he took in his surroundings. He was in what looked like a dark and very wet sewer.

There seemed to be a glow coming from further down the corridor. He made his way down the corridor, which was quite a bit longer than it seemed.

He had never been in a mind like this. Many people didn't even have enough will power to create a mind scape, let alone one so elaborate.

As he reached the end of the corridor, he turned to see an odd sight. There was a rather large ball of light, which had been giving off the glow, hovering above a series of pillars. And in the middle of the pillars, underneath the glowing ball of light, was Naruto.

Naruto looked at the man before him, masking the shock that he felt. The man in front of him looked nothing like the one that had invaded his mind.

This one was a bit shorter, balding, and had several scars on his face. His eyes were black and he had yellow teeth. He was wearing dark robes and gray boots. All in all, a complete and opposite contrast from the Dumbledore that had been outside his mind.

"Who are you," he said quietly. The man opened his mouth to speak but was never given the chance as chains shot out from the pillars and expelling the old man from Naruto's mind and back into his body.

XxXx

_Great Hall_

Dumbledore stumbled back as he was forcefully expunged from the blonds mind, which had the effect of Naruto being released from the man's hold on him. He quickly leaped away, drawing a kunai, in a defensive position.

The old man growled. He had no idea what had just happened. He had never been expelled from someone's mind so quickly. Not to mention the fact that he had never seen someone's mind like that, not even his own.

He brandished his wand causing the rest of the house tables in the hall to disappear, before turning to stare at the spiky haired blond in front of him.

"I don't know what that was but it won't matter," he said, his voice full of confidence. "By the end of the hour you'll be nothing more than a smear on the floor."

With that, he summoned large torrents of water that flew at high speeds towards Naruto. He dodged; jumping to the left, letting the water hit the staff table that had been left alone.

It smashed into pieces, the shrapnel flying in all directions. As the silverware clatter to the ground, they gave off sparks.

Naruto, who had stuck to the wall, quickly pieced together the fact that the water was electrically charged.

Making a quick note to himself not to touch, or get hit with the water, he stored his kunai and quickly went through a long series of hand seals as he ran along the wall, dodging bludgeoning spells all the while.

From the copious amounts of water left on the floor, a large dragon formed before charging towards Dumbledore.

He hastily conjured a light blue shield as the water dragon crashed down on him. Not letting up, he summoned two clones to hide in the rafters and gather sage energy before rapidly blasting large balls of concentrated fire at the old man.

It was a mix of two jutsu, _Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu_ and _Katon: Karyu Endan_ that he had accidentally created when he had mixed up the hand signs. The explosion was spectacular.

He waited with bated breath as the steam from the combination of the water and fire jutsu.

He jumped to his left as a sickly purple light sped towards him. The wall where he previously stood exploded in a shower of stones and dust.

He was still in the air as another beam shot out towards him. Drawing his kunai again, he channeled wind chakra through the blade and sliced through the beam as though it were nothing.

The old man sent spell after spell at him, in rapid succession, giving him no chance to go on the offensive. He either slashed or dodged each spell sent his way.

Naruto cursed when he realized his body was still drained form the day before. If he were at full or even 70% he wouldn't have to try so hard to avoid Dumbledore's spells. As it were he felt like he was an academy student again, and hardly moving faster than a turtle.

It was only another minute before they both heard a small poof coming from above the rafters. In the seconds that it took for the old man to break his spell chain and look up to see what the noise was, Naruto had transformed into sage mode.

However, this time it was different. Being inside the castle which was full of magic, or natural energy, had an odd effect on Naruto's sage mode.

Instead of just his eyes changing, his hair became even wilder than before, colored with streaks of silver, the markings around his eyes stretched down into elaborate lines that covered his face as silver energy swirled around him.

He shot up in height at least another six inches as his body bulged with power. His grin was feral, as the old man looked his way, with a state of horror over his face.

"What are you?" he said.

"Just a history teacher," he said as he blurred from sight, before sending the old man flying with a roundhouse to the back.

XxXx

Things were not going well for the old man at the moment. The blond was easily overpowering him with his speed and strength. Not to mention his many techniques.

He wasn't hurt too badly, thanks to his shields, but he had been caught unaware many times if the bruises were anything to go by.

The great hall looked as though rhinos had stampeded through it. He smiled as he shakily got up from the floor, ignoring the banging on the double doors.

The blond may have brawn, but he didn't make it all these years without being resourceful. As he heard the blond slowly walking towards him, he started chanting a spell under his breath.

It was an old enchantment, one meant to subdue a person with their own strength. The stronger the person was, the stronger the spell would be.

"Alright Dumbledore, or whoever you are," Naruto said, stopping in front of the crouched man. "I'd say it's time to give up, wouldn't you."

'Cocky blond,' he thought as he finished his chant. The look on the blonds face as dark gray tendrils flowed from his wand and latched onto him was priceless. He smiled as the blond struggled against the bonds as they grew thicker from Naruto trying to use his power to break them.

"You underestimated me you idiot," he said coldly, aiming his wand at Naruto. "_Avada Keda_-" he was cut off as the other clone that was still hiding in the rafters jumped down and kicked the old man away, his wand flying.

"Quick, Summoning!" he exclaimed to his clone. The clone nodded before making a slight cut on the real Naruto's thumb and started going through the hand seals.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!"

A large plume of smoke erupted from where the clone had summoned Fukasaku and Shima. But they weren't alone. As the smoke cleared an elderly man stood in between the two toads. He wore what looked like prison clothes, gray and dirty pants and long sleeve shirt.

He was balding and clearly had not aged well, with dark eyes and yellow teeth. Naruto had seen this man, not so long ago when Dumbledore had tried to invade his mind.

He couldn't really fathom how he was standing in front of him when he had only seen him in his mind scape.

It was only when Dumbledore spoke that he realized the situation was incredibly far over his head.

"How?" he Dumbledore said with shock written all over his face. "How are you here? How did you escape Nurmengard, Grindelwald?"

The man, now identified as Grindelwald smiled cruelly.

"Hello Dumbledore."

* * *

Ravenclaw Riddle

A woman shoots her husband, then holds him under water for five minutes. Finally, she hangs him. Five minutes later they enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

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	19. In Which Things Become Confusing

Hello! You will all have to excuse the unintended absence that I took. It was a combination of writers block, school, and other personal stuff. I never meant to be gone for so long. I have to thank my beta for helping me out with this one because this chapter kicked my butt. It may seem a bit confusing when you read it but if you ask a question in a review, I'll try to answer it if I can without spoiling the rest of the story.

And in answer to the last Ravenclaw Riddle a lot of you got it right. It was a woman taking a picture of her husband and developing it before having dinner with him.

Enjoy the chapter and leave a review!

* * *

_**Where we left off…**_

_It was only when Dumbledore spoke that he realized the situation was incredibly far over his head._

_"How?" he Dumbledore said with shock written all over his face. "How are you here? How did you escape Nurmengard, Grindelwald?"_

_The man, now identified as Grindelwald smiled cruelly._

_"Hello Dumbledore."_

XxXx

To say that Naruto was confused would be an understatement. If he had done his research correctly during his time here, something that his inner child strongly rebelled against, then the man standing before him was a rather infamous dark wizard who had been the dark lord before Voldemort.

Why Fukasaku and Shima had brought him, of all people, here was more than a bit shocking. He was left panting as his sage mode left him, the exhaustion that he felt had been magnified by at least ten times due to all the power he had gained from being in the castle.

Fortunately, this meant that the magical restraints had loosened by quite a bit, enough for him to escape. However, he didn't dare move a muscle. The shock of the situation was what was keeping him firmly in place.

"Hello Dumbledore," Grindelwald spoke vehemently. "How have you been over the years?"

"I've been doing just fine, until I saw your face that is," Dumbledore said while rising to his feet. "It seems that Nurmengard hasn't done much for your aging. You look awful."

Unbeknownst to the two men, who were still chatting away like the old men that they were, they had been subtly and quickly lulled into a genjutsu by the two toads. They quickly hopped over to Naruto, who had been freed from the magical restraints the moment Dumbledore had been distracted, and put the two wizards into a genjutsu. Quickly drawing a few kunai and shuriken pinning the two men to the ground as they were slowly lulled into a peaceful sleep.

"Fukasaku, Shima," he said, "What the hell is going on? Why in the world would you bring Grindelwald here? What happened to getting Dumbledore?"

"Well, Naruto-chan, the thing is..." Fukasaku trailed off.

"The thing is?"

"That man, Grindelwald, is the real Dumbledore," Fukasaku said. It took a moment for it to really register in his mind but when it did, he was surprised that he wasn't so surprised. Orochimaru had been doing something similar, so what's to say that the same couldn't happen here.

"I'm sensing a but here," Naruto said as he kept his eye on the two older men.

"And you would be right in saying so," Fukasaku said. "When you summoned us last night we immediately knew that there was only one way to get this done with the limited amount of time that we had."

"What did you do?"

"We went to Ōjiji-sama, of course," Shima said. Naruto's eyebrows raised at that. He had quite a few fond memories of the older toad sage, some were solely due to the fact that the toad had such a horrible memory. He quite often forget Naruto's name, and the fact that he wasn't a toad. Naruto honestly thought that he was quite senile, but was smart enough not to broadcast those thoughts aloud. Although he could tell that the other toads felt the same, they couldn't help but love the elderly toad at the same time.

"And how did that go exactly?" he asked the two toads with a smirk on his face which widened into a full blown grin when he saw their expressions.

"I think you can guess," Fukasaku said testily.

_Flashback_

"_Ōjiji-sama," Fukasaku said clearly exasperated. "Please, for the last time, can you tell us what happened to Dumbledore to make him like he is today?"_

_Fukasaku and Shima had been trying to get The Elder Toad Sage to tell them what had happened to Dumbledore for the past three hours. They were running out of time and unfortunately he just kept going around in circles because he kept forgetting what they were talking about._

_Fukasaku was convinced he was doing it on purpose._

"_Oh that!"The toad sage exclaimed as he reached around for something. "Why didn't you say so before?"_

_It was only the calming and slightly forceful hand of Shima that kept Fukasaku from charging the older toad. They watched as he pulled out his crystal ball, wondering what he was going to show them._

"_Instead of me telling you what happened it would more than likely be better to show you, now wouldn't it?"_

_Fukasaku said nothing as he was still fuming. The pair of them watched as an image started to show. It was a moment before it cleared that it showed a much younger Dumbledore and another man locked in fierce combat with each other. They tossed spell after spell at the other, each one having a devastating effect._

_It was only a moment before they realized that the were watching the end of the battle when Dumbledore managed to disarm Grindelwald. They watched enraptured as Dumbledore stalked up both wands in hand and began to speak._

"_Gellert, I wish it hadn't come to this," he said his voice full of anguish. "I'm not going to kill you, no, that would be too kind. Maybe you'll find redemption later on in life."_

"_Albus," the man now identified as Gellert spoke. "It was all for the greater good. You know this so why? Why stop me?"_

"_Because, it stopped being about the greater good a long time ago and became YOUR greater good. Everyone knows what you've been doing, and they know it's not what's best for them. Only they can decide that. This stops here and now. Stup-"_

_He didn't get to finish as he was knocked off of his feet, both wands scattering. Gellert stood, a second wand in his hand, still aimed at Dumbledore._

"_Sorry Albus, but I'm not going anywhere. Like you said, everyone knows what I've been doing, but that doesn't mean that they'll know it's me anymore."_

_There was a moment of silence before Gellert began another spell. _

_The toads watched as a pink light flew from the wand hitting Dumbledore before an odd substance began leaking from his mouth, his eyes going blank. The substance shot straight towards Gellert as his eyes also went blank and a similar substance leaked from his mouth. _

_It was a grotesque scene as one substance went into the other man, and both bodies started shaking. Soon cries of pain were emitted from both, their shells twisting, their faces being pulled by imaginary hands, and something told the toads that their thoughts and personalities were changing. As suddenly as it started, it was over._

_They watched as Dumbledore shakily rose to his feet before proclaiming, "It's a shame Gellert, that you couldn't see past your own selfish desires and strive for the greater good."_

_It was at that moment that the image stopped. Fukasaku and Shima looked at the elder toad who had an odd look on his face._

"_So, what just happened at the end there?" Shima asked quietly. The elder toad looked at her before smiling._

"_Simple," he said lightly. "One became the other but with the same personalities and mindset they had before."_

_End Flashback_

"He did eventually manage to figure out what we were talking about and let us know what had happened to the two men and what to do about it. I think you know about this being the history teacher, about their fight during World War II, correct?"

"Of course," Naruto said.

"It's well known that Dumbledore was the winner of that particular fight and Grindelwald was sent to Nurmengard prison, but what no one knew was that Grindelwald performed on final spell before he was captured."

"And that's the spell that caused them to switch bodies?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, they switched bodies with that spell which leads us to the mess that we have today."

"But wait," he said. "I've been in the old man's head before and nothing I saw from his memories showed any indication that he switched bodies with someone."

"We asked this very question ourselves," Shima said. "Ōjiji-sama explained this as well. When the spell was performed something went wrong. Grindelwald thinks he's the real Dumbledore and Dumbledore thinks he's the real Grindelwald."

Naruto blinked at a momentary loss for words.

"But, what?" he asked confused.

"Here, I'll say it like this," Fukasaku said. "When the spell was performed their consciousness were switched around. When you saw inside of his mind it looked like Grindelwald was the good guy right?" He waited for Naruto's conformation. "Well in their minds the roles were reversed. Grindelwald was the good guy and Dumbledore was the bad guy."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense, but that doesn't explain why Grindelwald did what he did when he thought he was Dumbledore. He committed so many atrocities and ruined so many lives."

"That can be explained to," Fukasaku said while holding back a laugh at the look on Naruto's face. Shima, however didn't have too much of a problem with this as she fell to the floor laughing at Naruto's expense. "Not only were their consciousness switched, so were their personalities. Every moral, good and bad, were switched along with them. This is why he's done all of these things in the name of the greater good."

"More like his greater good," Naruto mumbled. "Well how do we switch them back?"

"This is where you come in Naruto-chan," Shima said as she pulled out a scroll and handed it to Naruto. "You can perform the spell on them since you know how this whole wizard thing works. The spell is written on the scroll."

The spell on the scroll wasn't that hard to perform by the looks of it, never mind the fact that it was in latin, but it did require a wand, something that Naruto didn't have. He had been getting by with 'wandless magic' and it hadn't occurred to him until recently to acquire one. He knew the theory well enough to perform most He was about to voice this problem until he saw the wand that Dumbledore was using in the fight earlier not too far from him. He must have lost it when Naruto knocked them out.

_'It was a bit easy to knock them out now that I think about it'_ Naruto thought as he picked up the wand. The moment he touched it though he felt... something. It was an odd sensation that felt icy cold and yet comforting at the same time. He took a moment to study the wand, which seemed to be made out of elder. It was a dark gray and rather long and seemed to pulse with power, something that had Naruto's eyebrows raised.

"Okay, here we go," Naruto said as he raised the wand. "_Ut hendrerit ut switch, corpus et animam, ut fiat meum tuum."_

The moment the words left his lips a bright pink light left the tip of the wand before splitting off and hitting the two men simultaneously. Their image seemed to literally ripple as the spell took effect on the two wizards. A moment later their mouths opened in a silent scream as an odd looking substance streamed from their mouths and into the others. Naruto actually found it quite disgusting yet oddly fascinating, if anyone were to ask him. It continued for a few more seconds, the weird substance just seemed to slide along and click into place, and then both wizards shuddered and fell still.

"Did it work?" Naruto asked as the two toads hopped over.

"Well, we won't know until you wake one of them up now will we?" Fukasaku said. Naruto frowned before aiming his wand at Dumbledore, or who he hoped was Dumbledore.

"_Rennervate"_

It was a moment later they saw Dumbledore opening his eyes. It was clear that he was quite confused and just a bit bewildered at why he was pinned to the floor of the Great Hall of Hogwarts, but then the memories started flooding in. He moaned in pain as he saw everything that Grindelwald did while in his body in quick flashes in his mind.

"Oh dear," he said as he processed everything. Naruto sent a quick look at the toad before aiming the wand towards the older man.

"I'm going to ask you a question and you're going to answer me, truthfully," Naruto said coldly. "And trust me; I'll know if you're lying."

Dumbledore focused on Naruto for the first time but before either of them could say anything else, a bright flash distracted them. Naruto had seen this once before in when he scanned Dumbledore's mind and knew that this had to be Fawkes, his phoenix.

The bird in question swooped down the other man, obviously brimming with joy if the way he was singing and nuzzling Dumbledore was any indication. It was more than a good enough sign that Dumbledore was really Dumbledore now, if only for the fact that even knocked out, Grindelwald was cringing in pain at the sound of Fawkes song.

Naruto quickly unpinned the real Dumbledore from the ground before helping him stand. It seemed that he was still very disoriented from being shoved back into his own body. Naruto sent a small nod towards the two toads before they disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.

"Dumbledore," Naruto began, "Do you remember what happened to you?"

The man in question turned to face him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Unfortunately yes, I do. I also remember everything that _he_did while impersonating himself as me," he said with disgust creeping into his voice. "Because of him so many lives were ruined and so many people were hurt. It's going to take a lot to fix everything he did and even then, it won't be enough. I can't bring back all those who died because of him. I am, however, very glad that you were hired here."

"Really?"

"Of course! If it wasn't for you then he would still be wreaking havoc on the world with my image. Now, why don't we let these nice people inside. I think they've been waiting long enough, don't you?"

"People?" Naruto said with a confused look on his face. It was only then that he remembered the pounding on the door that had only increased as the fighting went on earlier. As Dumbledore opened the door, a mass of people flooded in.

Many of them wearing red robes who, if he remembered correctly, were Aurors. There was McGonagall and Snape along with them and a stern looking woman wearing a monocle to go along with the furious look on her face.

The woman took in the scene around her, from the damaged hall, to Dumbledore being held up by Naruto, and an unconscious older man pinned to the ground.

"Will someone PLEASE explain just what the hell is going on here?"

Dumbledore and Naruto sent a quick look towards each other before Dumbledore spoke.

"My dear Amelia," was all Dumbledore was able to get out before he along with Naruto and everyone else in the hall were blown off their feet. As they got to their feet, they turned to see Grindelwald no longer in sight.

* * *

Ravenclaw Riddle

It cannot be seen, it cannot be felt,  
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,  
Lies behind stars and under hills,  
And empty holes it fills.  
Comes first follows after,  
Ends life kills laughter.

Please leave a review!


	20. A Small Interlude

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely nothing.

AN: Hello everyone! Hope everyone has been having a wonderful holiday! Now you may or may not have noticed but it has been exactly one year yesterday since I uploaded the first chapter for this story.

I wanted to have the chapter done for yesterday but, well, I got something I've wanted for a long time and I've been distracted and haven't been able to finish it. So I wrote this little interlude for today and the fact that it's been on my mind for a while. I hope you enjoy it!

AN: The answer to the last riddle was darkness. I honestly didn't even realize that it was from the hobbit until I got at least a twenty review telling me that's why they knew it.

* * *

Something felt... different. Not in a bad way but he wasn't sure it was good either.

As contradictory as it sounded it felt as though he was laying on a hard floor, but also laying on the softest of beds. He groaned as he rolled on his back and opened his eyes.

It was white.

Everywhere was white, and familiar. He had been here before. He pushed himself up taking a good look around.

It was just like the last time he had been here except this time he was alone, or he would've been if not for a low moaning coming from behind him.

He turned to see what looked like a gazebo, appear from out of nothing. He got to his feet and started to walk towards the gazebo, wondering what could possibly be making such a wretched sound.

He slowly walked up the few step only to nearly trip on them with the grisly site that met him. It looked like a deformed baby, rather bloody, and seemed as though it was dying as it moaned pathetically.

"You can't help," a soft voice called out. Like the place he now found himself in, the voice was also familiar. He spun around to see a red headed woman with eyes just like his wearing a smile on her face.

"Mum!" he shouted. He quickly ran towards her and held onto her as though his life depended on it.

She hummed as she softly ran her fingers through his hair, slowly leading them away from the gazebo. Harry stopped and looked up at her questioningly before looking at the gazebo. She shook her head and continued to lead him away from the gazebo as it faded from view.

"Mum, do you know what's going on? Why am I here again? And what was that... that thing?" Harry said after a moment. She stopped before looking around.

"This looks like a good spot," she said quietly before sitting down with Harry following suit. "Oh Harry, you've grown so much since I last saw you. Although, I thought I told you I didn't want to see you again before you became an old man."

Harry blushed before speaking.

"So, does that mean I died?" he said quietly.

"Actually no, but something else did. Something that had been latched onto you from that moment that Voldemort tried to kill you. It was a piece of Voldemort's soul."

"You mean, that thing, back there?" he said with wide eyes that only grew wider when Lily nodded in conformation.

"Yes, it's been in your scar ever since that night. You don't remember how you got here do you?"

Harry was quiet for a moment as he tried to remember what had happened. The only thing that he could remember was standing with the Weasley twins, a pair of red eyes and then nothing.

"No, I don't remember much. What happened?"

"Well, it turns out that Voldemort had been possessing your defense teacher, Quirrell, the entire time. Naruto confronted him when he tried to steal a valuable object from the school and he tried to possess you."

"Possess me?" he said in alarm.

"Don't worry Harry, Naruto took care of it. The result of Naruto expelling Voldemort was the death of that parasite. Which is why you're here."

"That's good, but I still don't understand why I'm here."

"Well, because it had been connected to you for so long, when it died you were dragged along here as well. You aren't dead, not in the least. Actually, you're asleep in the infirmary at the moment, so for you, this is more like a dream than anything else."

Harry nodded as he leaned against her. He couldn't help but notice that as they were talking the misty area began to turn into a green field that seemed to go on for miles with a cluster of trees scatter every which way.

"Harry," Lily said getting his attention again. "There's one more thing you need to know."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember what the hat told you about the headmaster?"

He nodded.

"Well, Naruto found the real Dumbledore."

"He did?"

"Indeed he did. It turns out that an old dark wizard by the name of Grindelwald stole his body years back and was impersonating this whole time."

"But if that's true then where was the real Dumbledore?"

"He was stuck in Grindelwald's body, locked away in Nurmengard Prison. Sometime during World War II Dumbledore and Grindelwald battled. Dumbledore won in the end but was tricked and lost his body to Grindelwald. However, the spell that he used to do it went a bit wrong."

"Went wrong how?" Harry said wondering what could've gone wrong, still marveling at the fact that such a spell existed.

"For some reason when they switched Grindelwald thought he was the real Dumbledore and vice versa."

"What does that mean then?" Harry asked. Lily was quiet for a moment before she turned to him with a small smile.

"It means that you won't have to worry about the Dursleys anymore."

She had barely finished her sentence when Harry nearly tackled her with his hug. They held each other for a while before Lily pulled back.

"So, tell me, how's Hogwarts been so far? Have you made any friends?"

"Oh it's been amazing! My friend Hermione, she's a muggleborn like you and the smartest one in our year. She's a bit high strung but she's mellowed out a bit. My other friend Neville..." he said as he continued on without a care in the world at the moment.

And even though he knew things were a bit hectic, he just wanted to enjoy this moment with his mother, that's all that really mattered to him right now.

* * *

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	21. In Which There Are Three

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: Long authors note explaining where I've been and what took so long will be at the bottom along with the new Ravenclaw Riddle. Now onto the story.

* * *

Amelia sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. The last few hours had been more than hectic and not the least bit disturbing. When she and her team had been called to Hogwarts due to an emergency she thought that she would be ready for anything.

How wrong she was.

_'Always expect the unexpected'_ was what they always told her in training. Maybe if she had remembered that particular piece of advice then she wouldn't be dealing with the mother of all headaches as she was now. From the moment those doors to the Great Hall opened she knew that it wasn't going to be a typical day in the Auror office. She didn't expect to see the infamous Dark Lord Grindelwald laid out on the ground with Dumbledore and the new history teacher standing over him.

She also didn't expect herself to be blown off her feet, only to have said Dark Lord disappear into thin air. And she most certainly didn't expect, couldn't possibly expect the story that went along with the situation. A lot could be explained away with magic, but some stories were too farfetched for that excuse to work.

Apparently, this whole time the world had been completely fooled by Grindelwald, who had been passing himself off as Dumbledore –no- who actually believed he was Dumbledore. All because of a misfired spell. There was only one thing she could say at this point.

"This can't get out. To anybody. Not even the Minister." She commanded as she looked at the two men in the office as they finished their story.

She was slightly startled when the phoenix singing softly with joy as he was reunited with his human- Dumbledore, the real Dumbledore. The newly released Headmaster could only nod along with her proclamation. He knew how much it would affect their world if this information got out. It would be devastating for the people to know that they had revered, for the past few decades, a Dark Lord.

"But people saw Grindelwald already," Naruto pointed out. "What should we tell them? Not to mention we still have to deal with the fact that Quirrell literally had Voldemort stuck to the back of his head."

"My young colleague does raise some good points," Dumbledore said as he stroked Fawkes softly.

"What we need is a cover story. And a good one." Naruto stated.

"That'll be difficult. One of the most notorious Dark Lords in all of history just somehow manages to break out of Nurmengard and then travels abroad and manages to break into Hogwarts without anyone noticing a thing?" Amelia said sarcastically.

"Well just tell the people the truth, albeit, a rather skewed version of what happened, but still," Naruto said. "Just tell them that Grindelwald mysteriously managed to break out of the prison, you're not sure how, and he made his way all the way to Britain to get revenge on Dumbledore for his defeat. I mean, he did build the prison, makes a bit of sense that he would be the one to escape it, right?"

There was a moment of silence.

"...That, is actually not a bad idea," Dumbledore said. "As much as I hate to say this, the people of the wizarding world will believe almost anything they read from The Daily Prophet. Why not use that to our advantage?"

"It could work. Easily. There will be quite a bit of unrest, of course, but that's what we're going to have to go with. I'll get the story to them as soon as I can." Amelia offered.

"So what are we gonna do about our lack of a Defense teacher?" Naruto asked.

Dumbledore just sighed.

"I guess one of the teachers will just have to fill in. I'd be more than happy to do it but I'll too busy undoing all the damage that Grindelwald has done to our society."

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of Amelia's stomach as she remembered that Grindelwald had written many of their laws and set standards throughout Britain.

"Dammit," she said quietly. "How much damage did he manage to actually do?"

Dumbledore sighed wearily, looking more than twice his actual age.

"More, much more than one would expect, and he did it all so subtlety that you really wouldn't notice that he did it in the first place. The few that did were, unfortunately, silenced long ago."

"If you wanna know where you can at least start making amends, start with Harry," Naruto said, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Get him out of that house and get those animals put where they belong."

"Yes, I quite agree. What would you suggest the best form of punishment should be for them?"

"Well..." he started but was cut off as the fireplace flared to life with a blustering man soon coming out of it. There was a moment of awkward silence before the man spoke.

"Albus what on earth is going on here? Reports are coming in that Grindelwald of all people broke out of prison and came here to kill you!"

They all looked at each other before sighing wearily. It was going to be a long day.

XxXx

Harry groaned as the sunlight hit his face. He didn't want to wake up, not at all. He was very comfortable after all. This had to have been the best sleep of his life so far. He was just covering his head when he heard a rather familiar baritone chuckle to his left. His eyes snapped opened only to be greeted with the sight of Naruto sitting in a chair next to his bed laughing quietly to himself.

"Sunlight always has been sleeps mortal enemy," he said with a laugh. Harry quickly rose up in his bed and just as quickly flopped back down as a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over him.

"Slow down there, Harry," Naruto said as he leaned over the bed. "You've been through a lot in the past few days."

Harry groaned as Naruto spoke.

"What happened to me? And where am I?" he said as he got a good look at his surroundings. He was lying in a white bed with matching sheets. There were other beds in the room as well with an office to near the door. There was an open curtain surrounding the bed with a tray at the foot of his bed topped with all types of candies, cards, and colorful boxes that looked like Christmas gifts. "And what are those?"

"Full of questions aren't you?" He said with a smile. "Well let's see. All of those are gifts from your friends and many admirers."

"Admirers?"

"Yup," he said. "Even though it's the winter holidays and the students aren't due back for another two days, they still managed to find out about what happened. The Hogwarts rumor mill is quite formidable isn't it? Although I would handle the ones from the Weasley twins with care. I recognized that look they had."

He nodded slowly.

"But what did happen? All I remember is looking at some map with the twins and a pair of red eyes." _And a lot of pain._

"Well, that's a bit difficult to explain. You remember Quirrell, right?"

Harry nodded.

"Turns out he was actually being possessed by Voldemort's spirit. They wanted something that was hidden here in the school and I confronted them. I was able to subdue Quirrell but Voldemort managed to escape. That's when he went after you."

"You mean he tried to possess me?" Harry said shakily. It was then that his conversation with his mother came flooding back. Even as Naruto explained what happened, Harry already knew. He sat listening as he explained that he had managed to get the real Dumbledore back, even though they now had the problem of Grindelwald running around.

Harry knew that he wouldn't necessarily have to go back to the Dursleys, but he still asked what was going to happen with his living situation. Naruto simply blinked, confusion on his face.

"I'd thought it'd be obvious," he said slowly. "You're staying with me. I'll be your guardian officially now."

Harry was quiet for a moment.

"And the Dursleys?"

Naruto smirked.

"They're gonna get what they deserve, don't doubt that," he said maliciously. "I'm gonna make sure of that one."

A wide range of images formed in Harry's mind from the simplest of slaps on the wrist, to the most gruesome thing he could imagine happening to them, all performed by Naruto and he had the sudden urge to ask if he had ever dealt with something like this before.

Although, he hadn't told him, Harry could tell that something similar had happened to Naruto in his childhood. It was the small looks in his eye, or the odd understanding looks he would sometimes give the younger of the two that let him know that something had happened.

Harry also had enough common sense not to bring it up though. He knew how he would feel if someone had brought something like that up with him. So instead, he just settled for the large grin forming on his face and whooping with joy at the thought of never going back to the Dursleys. It was only when Naruto put a brightly wrapped box in his face that he remembered he still had presents to open.

Best Christmas ever.

XxXx

They had been enjoying the gifts and each other's company for quite a while with little interruptions. Madame Pomfrey had, of course, come to check on her patient with regular intervals and they had been visited by the red headed devils a while ago.

When they had first come visit they had tried to play a prank on Naruto. It didn't turn out well. Naruto had seen it coming a mile away and managed to switch places with the two the second it went off all the while adding his own little flair to the prank. Needless to say, they ran out with their hair orange, a face full of clown like make up, and wearing nothing more than a pair of pink tutu's. That had been about an hour ago.

One of the gifts however, were much different from the others. It was wrapped simply and came with a small note. _"Your father left this in my __imposter's__ possession before he died. It's time that it was returned to __its rightful owner. Have a Happy__ Christmas H__arry, and please dispose of this note when you get done reading it. Dumbledore."_

They looked at each other before opening the package and out fell a cloak. It was softer than any silk that Naruto had ever felt before and they both got a surprise when he draped it around Harry's shoulders and he partially disappeared.

Although Harry thought he was feeling fine, he was still showing signs of fatigue. Something that Naruto noticed rather quickly. So rather than push him, he told him to get some rest, and that he would be back when he woke up.

The moment he left the wing he was met with the site of a familiar man with a long white beard and twinkling blue eyes. It took him a moment to realize that it was the real Dumbledore and not an imposter.

"Ah, Mr. Uzumaki, can I have a moment?"

"Of course," he said as they walked down the hallway. "What's up?"

"First thing first I want to thank you again for saving me from that hellhole I was in," he said sincerely.

Naruto flushed a bit at the thanks and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He still wasn't used to such praise, even after all these years.

"It's no problem," he said. "I'm sure anyone would do the same."

"Oh quite the contrary. I don't believe that many people would. While I do believe in the innate goodness of a persons heart, people can be selfish, lazy, and arrogant. Not many would do what you did and not want anything in return."

Well, what could he say to that?

"Oh, do excuse an old mans ramblings," he said. "and let me talk to you about a few matters."

"And those would be?" he asked curiously but cautiously.

"First, I wanted to know if you could fill in for the defense position when you don't have class. I'll have a few of the other teachers that are qualified for teaching that class doing the same."

Yes, he forgot, the defense position was open wasn't it. Hmm, maybe he could work this to his advantage.

"How about I just take over the class for the rest of the year. All I'd need is a syllabus of what all the students would be learning and a few books."

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose.

"How would you do that if you don't mind my asking? Your history class schedule clashes frequently with the defense class."

Naruto chuckled.

"Let's just say I have the ability to be in two or more places at the same time and leave it at that."

"Okay," Dumbledore said slowly "I'll leave you to it. Now for the second thing. The wand now in your possession, you acquired it after you disarmed Gellert, did you not?"

"Yes," he said pull the wand out of his sleeve. The wooden stick in his hand hummed with power, practically pouring off in waves. It had already attuned to his rather unique signature already it seemed.

They had reached the stone courtyard which looked absolutely breathtaking covered in all the snow. Naruto felt a brief chill before he warmed himself using his chakra. Dumbledore seemed unperturbed by the chilly weather. Dumbledore took a seat on one of the benches and motioned for Naruto to do the same.

"Let me tell you a bit of a story about that wand, it has quite a history surrounding it," he said as he straightened his glasses.

"_There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dan__gerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure._

"_And Death spoke to them. He was angry that he had been cheated out of the three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him._

"_So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother._

"_Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead._

"_And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility."_

"_Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so talking with wonder of the adventure they had had and admiring Death's gifts._

"_In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination. The first brother traveled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible._

"_That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden upon his bed. The thief took the wand and for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat. And so Death took the first brother for his own._

"_Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him._

"_Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as to truly join her. And so Death took the second brother for his own._

"_But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life."_

They sat there for a moment in silence after Dumbledore finished speaking both with different thoughts on their minds.

"So, this wand, is the one from the story?" Naruto asked while looking oddly at the wand in his hand.

Dumbledore simply nodded.

"And the other two?"

"The cloak you have, coincidentally enough, seen today as well," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Just like in the story, the cloak was passed down from father to son for generations and it is now once again with its rightful owner."

"So Harry is related to the three brothers in the story?" Naruto said with his eyebrow raised. "What were their names, if you don't mind my asking?"

He had a pretty good idea if he was remembering that trip to Gringotts correctly.

"Their names were Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell. In Godric's Hollow there's a grave with the name Ignotus Peverell, the youngest brother in the story and one of Harry's ancestors."

"And the ring?" he couldn't help but ask.

"I honestly have no idea, but it's the one I've coveted the most," Dumbledore said sadly. Suddenly he looked at him with piercing eyes. "Do you know why I'm telling you all of this?"

He shook his head slowly.

"When I was young, my sister was attacked by three muggle boys and it affected her to the point that she couldn't even leave the house. Her magic, it went wild and became a danger to her and everyone else. When my mother passed it was up to me and my brother to watch over her. I'm not going to lie to you, I resented it. I was gifted, I was brilliant. I wanted to escape. I wanted to shine. I wanted glory.

"I loved them, do not misunderstand, but in my youth I was extremely selfish. And so I felt bitter and angry, and that's when he came..." he trailed off as he got a glassy look in his eyes.

"Grindelwald. You can't imagine how his ideas caught me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution."

Dumbledore must've caught the startled look on Naruto's face because he quickly continued.

"Oh, I had few scruples. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in benefits for wizards. Did I know it was wrong? I believe I did, but for Grindelwald, I willing closed my eyes. At the heart of all our schemes were the Deathly Hallows. How they fascinated the two of us. The unbeatable wand, the Resurrection Stone, to him it meant an army of Inferi. To me, it meant the return of my parents and the lifting of all responsibility from my shoulders. The cloak was more wanted to have the complete set of the Hallows. We could conceal ourselves well enough. Two months of insanity, cruel dreams, and neglect of the only two members of my family left to me.

"And then... reality returned in the form of my rough, unlettered, and infinitely more admirable brother. I didn't want to hear the truths he shouted at me. I didn't want to hear that I couldn't seek out the Hallows I so coveted with a fragile and unstable sister in tow.

"The argument became a fight. Grindelwald lost control. That darkness I always sensed in him but chose to ignore sprang into terrible being. And Ariana... lay dead on the floor."

It took a moment in which Naruto processed all of this and another moment to realize that Dumbledore had broken down in tears. Naruto lightly gripped his arm and waited until he regained his composure.

"Well, you can guess what happened from here. Grindelwald fled leaving me and my brother to bury my sister and learn to live with my guilt, the price of my shame.

"Years passed, and the rumors about him grew. They say he procured a wand of immense power. I was offered the position of Minister of Magic more than once. Naturally I refused. I had learned that I was not to be trusted with power. You undoubtedly know the rest. Which brings me to the point of this entire story. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That wand is a perfect example of this. From what I understand, you've been watching over young Harry for a number of years."

He chuckled at the astonished look on Naruto's face.

"It was quite easy to figure out after seeing you spend so much time with him and how you two interacted. What I'm trying to say is that I don't want what happened with me and Ariana to happen to you and Harry over that wand. I can tell you're a good person, my judging of another person's character being much better than when I was a youth. That wand has a bloody history, I just want you to be careful."

"Dumbledore, you have nothing to worry about. This wouldn't be the first time I've dealt with extremely corruptible sources of power and I'm certain it won't be the last. If that couldn't change me, this wand won't. I'd never let anything come between me and Harry."

Naruto spoke with conviction and a fire he thought had died back with his friends in Konoha. Dumbledore must have seen this as well for he nodded his head and stood.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear from you and if you would do me the honor, I'd like for you to accompany me to visit a few friends of mine."

"Friends?"

"Yes, they're just one of the families that Grindelwald tore apart and it's up to me to fix it. However, I don't know what they'd do if they see me so I'd like for you to accompany me, to help better explain the situation. You don't mind do you?"

Naruto shook his head and answered with a grin.

"Not at all."

"Excellent, we'll be making a young man's Christmas by giving him his family back," he said with a smile. "I suggest you hold on tight, if you've not done so, side along apparating isn't very pleasant," he said as he held out his arm.

Naruto, who had heard of side along apparating, cautiously gripped his arm as they popped out of the courtyard.

XxXx

It was one of the most unpleasant sensations he had ever felt but due to his training, he didn't stumble nor did he feel nauseous.

When he looked around he saw they were in a crowded reception area with people with many odd disfigurements like extra hands and a giraffe neck. As they stood in line he noticed there were wizards and witches in lime green robes walking up and down the rows asking questions and writing them down on clipboards.

A loud 'NEXT' startled him from his thoughts and he berated himself for getting lost in his thoughts. He and Dumbledore made their way to the receptionist, a witch reading what looked like a magazine with a bored expression on her face.

"May we see the Longbottoms today?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully.

"Spell damage, Fourth floor," she said without even looking up.

"Thank You," he said, just as cheerfully. He quickly led them up the stairs and through the hallways before stopping before a large door. As they stepped in it was obvious that this was a long term ward, or rather permanent ward.

There were many personal effects around the beds of the patients. As they walked forward a bit he could see Dumbledore staring at two individuals in particular.

A sallow-skinned, mournful looking wizard lay in the bed opposite staring at the ceiling; he was mumbling to himself and seemed to be unaware of anything around him. A woman who stood nearby had a thin, worn face, her eyes seemed overly large and her hair, which was white, was wispy and dead looking.

She didn't seem to want to speak but made small, almost timid motions towards Dumbledore. He looked towards Dumbledore for an explanation only to see his face wracked with grief.

"Hello Alice," he said quietly. "Hello Frank."

* * *

AN: Okay, explanation time. I was NOT planning on being gone for three months. I was only expecting to be gone a month at the most. This was due to the fact that I needed a new laptop, horribly. It was when I got it that other things decided to come up. Things like writers block, fires, funerals, family drama, school, work, more school, and getting even more distracted because I had to read The Hunger Games trilogy. Not to mention a whole host of other things that came up that I'm not going to mention.

Someone also asked why I didn't put up a riddle for the last chapter. It was because I knew I'd be gone for so long and I didn't want you all waiting so long for the answer. I'll be updating much more frequently now and I'll be totally revamping my Gift Giver story. I had been struggling with that as well and I finally managed to get the plot set so that along with Rather Die Young will be updated soon. I'll also be going back and fixing a few things in this story as well because of the way the manga has gone and all the information that was major to change the story at all or the plot so you won't have to re-read the story if you don't want to. I also got a review or two that told me there was a sentence in one of the chapters that just kind of cut off so I'll be fixing that as well.

The next chapter will be the end of part two and then we get into part three. A lot of stuff is going to start happening so I hope you're ready. There will also be more interaction of Harry and the other Hogwarts students than there has been so far.

So, please don't forget to review and add the story to your favorites!

Ravenclaw Riddle

I drift forever with the current  
down these long canals they've made  
Tame, yet wild, I run elusive  
Multitasking to your aid.  
Before I came, the world was darker  
Colder, sometimes, rougher, true  
But though I might make living easy,  
I'm good at killing people too.


	22. AN

This is just a note saying that the first six chapters have been edited. The others will be edited soon as well. Just a few minor things have been changed, like Naruto's age for one. I have no idea why I made him so old. So he's now 22 instead of 60 something. Other little things have been changed to but, again, this is just for the first six chapters so far. The rest will soon follow.

And if you were wondering, the answer to the last riddle was electricity, or lightning. Congrats to all those who got it!


	23. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I own nothing and I have nothing.

AN: So... hello everyone. It's been a while hasn't it? I could sit here and try to explain and give excuses as to why this took so long but then we'd be here all day. So I'm just gonna say there's a really important authors note at the end that you MUST READ!

Enjoy the story.

* * *

Grindelwald sighed as he looked around the cave he currently occupied. It wasn't ideal, but it would do for the moment. He was angry, no he was livid.

All of his plans, all of his accomplishments, ruined by that blond haired freak. He would need to regroup and come up with a way to regain his power, his status, and his influence.

It would take time but he was nothing if not patient. He would have his revenge, on both Dumbledore and the blond freak of nature if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

"Hello Alice," Dumbledore said. "Hello Frank."

From what Naruto could see just the sight of Dumbledore had sent the woman into a small fit. She was trying her best to move from him, as if she were afraid of him, and to be honest, he couldn't blame her.

To her, this was the same man who had put her and her husband in such a state and tore them away from her son and godson. From what he had managed to glean from Grindelwald's mind he had locked them away into their own minds under the guise of being tortured into insanity all so he could get them away from Harry.

He wanted Harry malleable so he could mold him into whatever he wanted and if it wasn't for Naruto then he might have succeeded in the attempt.

He shook his head and focused on what was going on at the moment.

"So these are Neville's parents, right?" Naruto asked. "You know how to help them?"

"Indeed I do. The spell that Gellert used on them is a rather odd one. It's one of his own making and if it wasn't for the fact that I have his memories I would be unable to reverse it. It's also the reason that no one has been able to help them."

As Albus took out his wand he couldn't help but see him flinch as a look of horror passed over Alice's face.

Naruto watched on sadly as Alice trembled in fear as Albus approached her before weaving his wand in a complicated manner. Naruto looked on, a bit mesmerized as he could feel the power flowing out of the older man as he went on to fix the damage that Grindelwald had caused. Even without the Elder Wand the level of magic being cast was incredible. It was a few minutes later that he lowered his wand and a faint shattering sound could be heard.

"Alice, can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked carefully. Naruto leaned forward as he watched the woman blink several times before becoming aware of herself and her surroundings.

"Albus, is that you?" she asked with widened eyes.

"Yes my dear and I'm so sorry it took me this long to free you from this wretched curse," he said as he got down on his knees.

"Albus…" she started, and Naruto could see what she was going to do before she even did it. He caught her fist just before it could strike the older man in his already crooked nose.

"Let me go! I'm gonna kill that old man!" she screamed as Naruto took hold of her. She trashed around for a bit before calming down somewhat.

"Mrs. Longbottom, there are circumstances you don't understand that led to this," Dumbledore pleaded. "Let me wake your husband and I'll explain everything."

"Oh you better have a good explanation old man, because if you don't then I'm gonna rip your throat out and shove it so far up your ass," she said venomously.

"Yes well, shall we get started?" Dumbledore said uneasily as he moved on to Franks still body.

* * *

Neville sighed as he and his grandmother made their way towards his parent's room. He wasn't particularly looking forward towards this but then again when was he ever.

It wasn't that he didn't want to see his parents, far from it. He wanted to see his parents more than anything, but he wanted to see them as they were before they were hurt.

It didn't help that his grandmother constantly pushed him to be like his father, or how his Uncle, in so many words, abused him as a child. Contrary to popular belief he was smart enough to know what his uncle did to him on the occasion was abuse.

He was also smart enough not to say anything about it. There was simply no one he could really turn to that could help him with his parents being in the state that they were.

He shook his head to get rid of the negative thoughts. He was going to see his parents, he should be happy, even if they barely recognized him. As he opened the door to his parent's room he was taken aback by the sight that met him.

He completely ignored a harsh sound and an odd thumping noise that followed a moment later. His mind had gone almost completely blank at the moment. Professors Dumbledore and Uzumaki were there, but it wasn't them who caught his attention.

His parents, eyes wide open and clear were sitting side by side almost as if they had woken from a long sleep. He didn't hear his name being called by the four people as he raced towards them and gripped them harshly in a tight embrace never wanting to let go.

He didn't notice when he started crying, nor did he notice when his parent's tears joined his. He didn't notice as his teachers slipped out of the room and he definitely didn't notice them dragging his unconscious grandmother out of the room with them.

This was turning out to be the best Christmas of his life.

* * *

IMPORTANT AN: THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL TO THIS STORY! Now that I have your attention yes this is the end of Eyes Like Mine but there will be a sequel uploaded as soon as possible. When that is, I'm not sure. However I must ask you to keep following this story because this is how I'm going to let you all know that the new story is up. Thank you for all the support and the love you've shown for this story. I hope the sequel will not disappoint you.

One last thing, I have a youtube channel now! If you're a fan of Kingdom Hearts, the Naruto Storm games, Pokemon, or Dragon Ball Z I'd suggest checking it out. The link can be found on my channel. I'd love it if you guys subscribed to it. If you'd just rather search it then my user name is Scottyyy77.


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